i 

tihrary  of ^he  Cheolojical  ^tmin<xxy 

PRINCETON    .    NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 


Miss  L.  N.  Gosman 
BX  4881  .W32  1853 


The  Waldenses 


^vMestniM:* 


MAR  22  1918 


THE  WALDENSES: 


SKETCHES 


It|e  Jbi^i^gelic^ii  6l)iri^ii^^3 


VALLEYS   OF  PIEDMONT, 


WITH     ILLUSTRATIONS     ON     WOOD,     DRAWN     BY    DOEPLEH, 

AND    ENGRAVED    BY    LYONS,    LOUDERBACK, 

OER,     AND     ROBERTS. 


£  i)  i  i  ^  0  e  i  p  i]  I  ^ : 

PRESBYTERIAN    BOARD    OF    PUBLICATION, 

No.    265    CIIESTXtfT    STREET. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1853, 

By    A  .    W  .     .MITCHELL,    M  .  D  . 

In  the  Clerk's  Offico  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


Slote    &   Moo.NEY,  Stereotypers. 
C.    Sherman,  Printer. 


Avenge,  0  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold; 
E'en  them,  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 
When  all  our  fathers  worshipped  stocks  and  stones, 
Forget  not :  in  thy  book  record  their  groans, 
Who  were  thy  sheep,  and  in  their  ancient  fold 
Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedmontese,  that  roll'd 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks.     Their  moans 
The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 
To  heaven.     Their  martyred  blood  and  ashes  sow 
O'er  all  the  Italian  fields,  where  still  doth  sway 
The  triple  tyrant;   that  from  these  may  grow 
An  hundred-fold,  who,  having  learnt  thy  way, 
Early  may  fly  the  Babylonian  woe !" 

]M  I  L  T  0  N  . 
(V) 


^i^ef[(ce. 


The  Waldenslan  Church  is  the  "Burning  Bush"  of 
Christendom.  The  history  of  that  people  presents  to  us 
little  else  than  a  series  of  ferocious  persecutions,  endured 
with  the  most  heroic  constancy.  Planted  in  the  valleys 
of  Piedmont,  almost  within  the  shadow  of  the  Papal 
throne,  their  scriptural  faith  and  order  have  been  a  per- 
petual and  most  significant  protest  against  the  corruptions 
of  that  colossal  Hierarchy.  Everything  pertaining  to 
them  has  contributed  to  give  point  and  pungency  to  this 
testimony.  In  age,  they  antedate  the  usurpations  of  the 
Roman  See.  Their  uncontradicted  traditions  run  back 
nearly  to  the  Christian  era,  and  warrant  the  presumption 
that  their  church  was  founded  either  by  the  apostles  or 
their  immediate  successors.  They  have  authentic  docu- 
ments, dating  many  hundred  years  before  the  Reformation, 
Irom  which  it  appears,  that  they  never  acknowledged  the 
supremacy  of  the  Popes — that  they  rejected  from  the  be- 
ginning the  monstrous  dogmas  and  superstitious  mummeries 
which  Rome  has  baptized  with  the  sacred  name  of  Christi- 
anity— that  they  have  steadfastly  adhered  to  the  Bible  as 
the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice — and  that  their  doctrine 
and  polity  have,  from  the  first,  been  precisely  what  they 
are  now.  Such  a  Church  must  needs  have  been  persecuted. 
It  was  a  standing   memento    of   the  great  apostacy  —  a 

(vii) 


\^ 


;"> 


0nteiit0. 


PAOB 

CHAPTER    1.  Description  of  the  Country 17 

'<  2,  Antiquity  of  the  Waldenses 27 

"  3.  Condition  before  the  Reformation 39 

"  4.  Persecution  by  Yolande  and  Cataneo 48 

"  5.  The  Waldenses  of  Val-Louise 55 

"  6.  The  Waldenses  of  Barcelonette,  Queyras,  and  Frays- 

sinieres "1 

"  7.  The  Waldenses  in  Provence 66 

"  8.  The  Waldenses  in  Calabria 79 

"  9.  Various  Martyrs 87 

"  10.  The  Waldenses  in  the  Valley  of  the  Po 92 

"  11.  The  Waldenses  in  the  Plain  of  Piedmont 95 

"  12.  The  Second  General  Persecution  of  the  Waldenses  of 

Piedmont 102 

"  13.  Condition  of  the  Valleys  under  Castrocaro 132 

"  14.  Condition  during  the  Reign  of  Charles  Emanuel 141 

"  15.  The  Plague  and  other  Calamities 154 

"  16.  More  Martyrs 161 

"  17.  The  Propaganda... 173 

"  18.  The  Massacres  of  1655 183 

"  19.  Gianavel 198 

"  20.  Negotiations  and  Concessions 224 

"  21.  Infractions  of  the  Treaty  of  Pignerol 233 

22,  The  War  of  the  Exiles 243 

"  23.  Conferences  at  Turin — Arbitration  of  Louis  XIV 251 

(xi) 


xii  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

CHAPTEK  24.  Commencement  of  the  Fourth  Persecution 259 

"  25.  Massacres  and  Expatriation 271 

"  26.  The  Glorious  Return  of  the  Waldenses  under  Arnaud...  283 

"  27.  Fresh  Edict  of  Expulsion 298 

"  28.  The  Waldenses  in  Wurtemberg 303 

"  29.  The  Waldenses  in  Hesse  D'Armstadt 314 

"             30.  History  of  the  Waldenses  of  Pragela  and  of  the  adja- 
cent Valleys 318 

"  31.  Modern  History  of  the  Waldenses 351 

"  32.  Present  Condition  of  the  Waldenses 365 


♦- 


91  |i  p  n  H  X 


PAGE 

I.  Doctrines  and  Ecclesiastical  Polity  of  the  Waldenses 373 

II.  Extracts  from  "  The  Ancient  Discipline  of  the  Evangelical  Church 

of  the  Valleys." 375 

III.  A  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Waldenses,  bearing  date  A.D.  1120 376 

IV.  Catechism  of  the  Ancient  Waldenses  for  the  Instruction  of  Youth, 

composed  in  the  Thirteenth  Century 378 

V.  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  Piedmont,  in 

1669 385 

VI.  Extracted  from  the  "Noble   Lesson,"  dated  A.D.  1100 391 


I  >'.■'>% 


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D     A    U 


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vV^^j^ 


^^f^' 
V"^?^ 


Cljiijitn  /irnt. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


In  the  northern  part 
of  Italy  is  the  beau- 
tiful plain  of  the  Po. 
Beyond  this  region, 
and  separating  it 
from  ancient  Gaul 
and  Germany,  is  the 
great  natural  barrier 
of  the  Alps.  These 
mountains  extend  in 
the  general  form  of 
a  crescent,  from  the 
western  side  of  the 
gulf  of  Genoa,  to  the 
eastern  side  of  the 
gulf  of  Venice.  They 
are  known,  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  their  course,  by  different  names,  as  the  Mari- 
time Alps,  the  Cottian  Alps,  the  Rhetian  Alps,  the  Noric 
B  2*  (17) 


18  THEWALDENSES. 

Alps.  The  Cottlan  Alps,  in  the  times  of  the  Romans, 
formed  one  of  the  most  common  routes  in  passing  from 
northern  Italy  into  Gaul.  This  route  was  also  sometimes 
taken  in  going  from  Italy  into  Spain.  The  country  at 
the  foot  of  the  Cottian  Alps,  on  the  Italian  side,  is  called 
Piedmont,  while  on  the  side  of  Gaul  it  has  received  the 
names  of  Dauphiny  and  Savoy.  High  up  in  the  mountain 
valleys  of  Piedmont,  on  the  Italian  side  of  the  Cottian  Alps, 
has  lived  from  time  immemorial  the  remarkable  people 
whose  history  we  are  about  to  sketch. 

The  Waldenses  are  at  once  mountaineers  and  dalesmen. 
The  valleys  in  which  they  live  are  remote  from  the  plain, 
closely  hemmed  in  by  mountains,  and  in  many  places  ac- 
cessible only  by  narrow  and  precipitous  ravines.  Much 
of  their  time  is  spent  upon  the  declivities  of  mountains 
topped  with  perpetual  snow.  Hardy  and  adventurous, 
exposed  from  childhood  to  a  life  of  toil  and  danger,  they 
have  all  that  simplicity  of  character,  and  that  sturdy  inde- 
pendence, which  seem  in  all  climes  to  be  the  natural  inher- 
itance of  the  mountaineer.  It  is,  however,  from  their  char- 
acter as  dalesmen,  or  men  of  the  valleys,  that  they  have 
received  their  name.  This  name,  derived  primarily 
from  the  Latin  vallis,  a  valley,  is  variously  spelled.  The 
French  form  of  the  word,  which  is  val,  gives  rise  to  a  plu- 
ral vaux,  and  thence  to  the  adjective  Vaudois.  The 
Italian  form  of  the  word  gives  the  adjective  Vallenses, 
strengthened  into  Valdenses,  and  thence  corrupted  in  En- 
glish into  Waldenses.  The  first  of  these  names,  Vaudois, 
is  that  which  they  call  themselves,  and  by  which  they  are 
almost  universally  known  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  The 
last,  Waldenses,  is  that  by  which  they  are  generally  called 
in  England  and  the  United  States. 

Politically,  the   Waldenses  are  hereditary  subjects  of 


DESCRIPTION   OF   THE    COUNTRY.  I9 

the  house  of  Savoj.  The  princes  of  this  house,  origi- 
nally dukes,  have  gradually  risen  in  dignity  to  the  rank 
of  kings.  Their  kingdom  now  includes  Savoy,  Piedmont, 
the  territories  of  Nice  and  Genoa,  and  the  island  of  Sar- 
dinia. From  this  last  of  its  possessions  is  derived  its 
name,  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia.  The  Waldensian  terri- 
tory lies  wholly  within  the  duchy  of  Piedmont,  and  its 
southern  border  is  about  thirty  miles  from  Turin,  which  is 
the  capital  both  of  Piedmont,  and  of  the  whole  kingdom. 

The  Waldenses  were  formerly  much  more  numerous 
than  now,  and  their  territory  covered  a  much  larger  area. 
Persecution,  through  a  long  succession  of  centuries,  has 
gradually  reduced  them  to  their  present  number  of  about 
twenty-three  thousand,  and  at  the  same  time  hemmed 
them  in  within  their  present  narrow  limits,  extending 
not  more  than  eighteen  miles  in  length  by  fourteen  in 
width,  and  containing  an  area  of  less  than  three  hundred 
square  miles. 

This  territory,  as  before  stated,  is  within  the  province 
of  Piedmont,  lying  in  a  southwesterly  direction  from  Tu- 
rin, and  about  thirty  miles  distant.  It  is  somewhat  trian- 
gular in  shape,  the  base  of  the  triangle  being  the  high 
dividing  ridge  of  the  Alps,  which  separates  Piedmont  from 
Dauphiny  in  France.  From  this  high  ridge,  the  mountains 
on  the  Italian  side  gradually  slope  down  towards  the  valley 
of  the  Po,  and  several  streams  rising  near  the  top  of  the 
ridge  run  an  easterly  course,  converge  as  they  descend, 
and  finally  unite  and  empty  into  the  Po.  It  is  the  union 
of  these  streams  that  forms  the  apex  of  the  triangle.  These 
streams  are  the  Po  itself  at  the  south,  the  Pelice  in  the 
centre,  and  the  Clusone  at  the  north.  They  lie  between 
bold  mountain  spurs  that  shoot  off  from  the  high  dividing 
ridge  which  has  been  named.     Between  each  two  of  these 


20  T  H  E    "W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 

mountain  spurs  is  a  valley,  forming  the  natural  bed  of  a 
river.  Each  valley  and  river  become  in  turn  the  receptacle 
of  numerous  small  lateral  streams  and  valleys,  and  so  the 
whole  territory  is  a  continued  series  of  lofty  mountains 
and  deep  valleys. 

The  river  Peliee  drains  the  valley  of  Luserne,  and  has 
several  important  tributaries.  At  the  entrance  into  the 
valley  is  the  parish  of  St.  Jean,  with  a  village  of  the  same 
name.  Beyond  St.  Jean,  and  near  the  junction  of  the 
Peliee  and  the  Angrogna,  stands  La  Torre,  theWaldensian 
capital.  It  has  been  the  scene  of  many  calamities,  and  is, 
of  course,  very  celebrated  in  Waldensian  history.  The 
next  village  of  importance  in  passing  up  this  valley  is  Vil- 
lar,  and  beyond  that  still,  high  up  among  the  mountains,  is 
Bobbi.  The  valley  of  Luserne,  in  its  lower  portions,  at  St. 
Jean  and  La  Torre,  is  of  considerable  width,  and  contains 
a  good  deal  of  alluvial,  or  bottom  lands,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Peliee.  Farther  up,  however,  this  alluvial  slip  becomes 
gradually  less,  and  cultivation  is  carried  on  chiefly  by  ter- 
races on  the  mountain  sides.  At  Bobbi,  the  scene  changes 
from  the  beautiful  into  the  sublime^  and  even  into  the 
awful.  The  level  alluvial  land  just  about  Bobbi  expands 
into  the  shape  of  a  basin,  but  higher  up  it  contracts  into 
a  narrow  strip  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  width,  and  finally 
disappears  altogether.  Thence  up  to  the  mountain  ridge 
which  forms  the  French  boundary,  there  is  nothing  but 
deep,  and  even  apparently  unfathomable  ravines,  in  which 
lie  the  channels  of  the  head  stream  of  the  Peliee  and  its 
highest  confluents,  overhung  by  stupendous  masses  of  rocks. 
There  is  not  in  all  the  Alps  any  scenery  which  is  more 
grand  and  imposing.  Nor  are  these  ravines  without  inhab- 
itants. Little  hamlets  are  to  be  found  at  various  points, 
in  all  directions,  wherever  it  is  possible  to  find  a  spot  on 


DESCRI-PTION    OF    THE    COUNTRY.  21 

the  sides  of  the  mountains,  in  the  shape  of  a  basin 
or  terrace,  or  little  hollow,  that  is  susceptible  of  cultiva- 
tion. 

The  valley  of  Rora  incloses  the  little  stream  called 
Lusernette,  which  falls  into  the  Pelice  below  the  town  of 
Luserne.  The  village  of  Rora,  though  inconsiderable  in 
size,  has  been  rendered  famous  in  history  by  the  gallant 
exploits  of  its  people.  The  scenery  of  this  district,  like  its 
history,  is  full  of  romantic  interest.  Few  portions  of  the 
valley  contain  so  much  that  is  bold,  picturesque  and  beau- 
tiful in  external  nature,  or  so  much  that  is  truly  marvellous 
in  its  heroic  reminiscences.  It  is  equally  remarkable  for 
the  strong  attachment  of  its  inhabitants  to  their  native 
soil.  Bleak  and  barren  as  the  soil  is,  particularly  in  the 
more  elevated  and  rocky  portions,  yet  few  of  its  people 
have  sought  a  home  elsewhere. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Pelice,  is  another  and  large 
tributary,  called  the  Angrogna,  which  drains  a  valley  of 
the  same  name.  This  stream  takes  its  rise  in  a  wild  moun- 
tain region,  among  high  Alps,  in  the  very  centre  of  the 
Waldensian  territory.  From  its  secluded  position,  ren- 
dering it  almost  inaccessible  to  a  hostile  force,  the  An- 
grogna has  been  in  all  ages  the  "  Holy  Valley"  of  the 
Waldenses.  Though  geographically  and  physically  secon- 
dary in  its  character,  and  only  a  branch  or  tributary  of 
the  Luserne,  yet  in  its  moral  and  historical  bearings,  the 
valley  of  Angrogna  ranks  as  first  in  importance.  To  this 
retired  region  have  the  people  often  withdrawn,  as  to  an 
asylum  that  could  not  be  invaded,  when  most  sorely  pressed 
by  their  foes.  Within  this  region  was  the  spot,  the  "  Shi- 
loh"  of  the  valleys,  where  in  former  ages  the  Waldensian 
Synod  often  met,  and  where,  above  all,  was  their  "  school 
of  the  prophets."     In  the  Pra  del  Tor,  very  high  up 


22  THEWALDENSES. 

towards  the  head  waters  of  the  Angrogna,  secure  from 
interruption,  their  young  men,  from  the  earliest  ages  of 
which  we  have  any  account  of  them,  were  accustomed  to 
assemble  from  the  different  valleys,  to  pursue  under  the 
direction  of  competent  pastors  such  studies  as  would  fit 
them  to  preach  the  gospel.  It  was  perhaps  a  rude  insti- 
tution, as  compared  with  the  well  appointed  theological 
Seminaries  of  this  day.  But  it  sent  forth  many  noble 
bands  of  missionaries,  to  preach  the  pure  gospel  of  Christ, 
long  before  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  and  when  the 
rest  of  the  Christian  world  was  enveloped  in  thick  dark- 
ness. Whilst,  in  the  monasteries  and  the  theological 
schools  of  the  rest  of  Christendom,  the  Bible  was  a  forbid- 
den or  an  unknown  book,  the  simple  minded  young  dales- 
men of  the  Pra  del  Tor  prepared  themselves  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry  mainly  by  committing  thoroughly  to  mem- 
ory the  entire  gospels  and  the  epistles. 

Leaving  the  region  of  the  Felice,  and  going  northward,  we 
come  to  the  river  Clusone.  This  river  rises  in  the  extreme 
northwestern  part  of  the  Waldensian  territory,  and  runs  in 
a  southeasterly  course  till  it  unites,  first  with  the  Felice, 
and  a  little  further  on  with  the  Fo.  The  union  of  these 
three  streams  forms  the  apex  of  the  triangle  of  which  the 
Cottian  Alps  are  the  base.  The  region  drained  by  the 
Clusone  has  three  different  names.  In  the  highest  part 
of  its  course,  is  the  valley  of  Fragela,  lower  down  is  the 
valley  of  Ferouse,  and  farther  still  the  valley  of  the  Clu- 
sone. The  first  and  the  last  of  these  valleys  have  ceased 
to  belong  to  the  Waldenses.  That  part  of  the  valley  of 
Ferouse,  which  lies  east  of  the  Clusone,  and  which  is  by 
far  the  most  extensive  and  fertile,  has  also  been  taken 
from  them.  The  only  part,  therefore,  of  the  region  drained 
by  the  Clusone,  that  now  remains  to  the  Waldenses,  is  a 


DESCRIPTION    OP    THE    COUNTRY.  23 

narrow  strip  on  the  western  bank,  in  the  middle  part  of 
its  course,  including  the  three  parishes  of  Parustin,  St. 
Germain,  and  Pramol. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Clusone,  are  three  important 
Roman  Catholic  towns,  whose  names  occur  but  too  often 
in  Waldensian  history.  These  are  Pignerol,  Perouse,  and 
Fenestrelle.  The  first  named  of  these  has  been  for  many 
ages  the  stronghold  of  those  who  have  persecuted  most 
bitterly  the  people  of  the  valleys.  Hundreds  of  unfortu- 
nate victims  have  here  pined  away  in  prison,  or  have  been 
burnt  at  the  stake,  and  within  its  walls  have  been  concocted 
most  of  those  schemes  of  mischief  which  have  involved 
the  adjoining  valleys  in  slaughter. 

Napoleon,  the  imperial  road-maker,  constructed  a  noble 
highway  through  this  valley  across  the  Alps.  This  road 
begins  at  Pignerol,  passes  Perouse  and  Fenestrelle,  and 
thence  from  the  upper  end  of  the  valley  of  Pragela,  it 
crosses  Mont  Genevre  into  France,  descending  through 
the  valley  of  the  Durance  by  Briangon  and  Embrun.  It 
is  the  precise  route  supposed  to  have  been  taken  by  Ju- 
lius Cifisar  on  his  way  to  Gaul,  and  by  Hannibal  on  his 
invasion  of  Italy,  as  it  was  also  by  Irenseus  and  the  other 
early  Christian  missionaries,  who  first  carried  the  gospel 
into  Gaul. 

Opposite  Perouse,  the  Clusone  receives  an  important 
tributary,  the  Germanesca,  Avhich  drains  the  valley  of 
St.  Martin.  Near  the  mouth  of  the  Germanesca,  and  in 
the  small  triangular  space  between  it  and  the  Clusone,  is 
the  parish  of  Pomaret,  containing  a  village  of  the  same 
name.  At  the  distance  of  a  mile  or  two  above  Pomaret, 
the  Germanesca  passes  through  a  narrow  defile,  which  is 
there  barely  wide  enough  to  allow  the  river  to  rush  through. 
Stupendous  rocks  are  piled  up  on  each  side  of  the  stream, 


24  THEWALDENSES. 

and  form  a  scene  of  surpassing  grandeur.  This  is  tlie 
natural  gate^Yay  of  the  valley  of  St.  Martin.  This  won- 
derful defile  seems  to  have  been  cleft  by  the  hand  of  God 
to  form  an  outlet  for  the  waters  of  the  river.  As  a  space, 
barely  wide  enough  for  a  road,  has  been  hewn  out  of  the 
solid  rock,  nothing  could  be  easier  than  to  block  it  up,  and 
effectually  prevent  the  entrance  of  a  hostile  force — a  mea- 
sure which  the  Waldenses  have  often  actually  adopted. 

The  scenery  in  the  valley  of  St.  Martin  frequently 
changes  from  the  most  m\d  and  rugged  aspect  to  the  most 
attractive  beauty.  Throughout  its  entire  length  there  is 
very  little  bottom  land.  Wherever  there  is  a  spot  that  is 
susceptible  of  cultivation,  whether  it  consists  of  several 
acres,  or  is  a  mere  nook,  there  the  hand  of  man  is  at 
work  to  turn  it  to  account. 

The  first  parish  above  Pomaret  is  that  of  Ville  S^che, 
so  called  from  its  chief  village,  which  occupies  an  accli- 
vity on  the  left  bank  of  the  Germanesca.  It  was  in 
this  parish  that  Leger  was  born,  the  well  known  historian 
of  the  Waldenses. 

Higher  up  the  valley  the  scenery  becomes  still  more 
wnld  and  savage.  The  bottom  grows  more  and  more 
narrow,  and  the  sides  consist  of  alternate  projections  of 
masses  of  naked  rocks  and  deep  intervening  wooded 
ravines.  In  the  ravines  which  have  a  northern  exposure, 
and  which  are  far  up  towards  the  summits  of  the  moun- 
tains, masses  of  snow  are  seen  in  midsummer.  Every- 
thing indicates  a  region  belonging  to  the  High  Alps.  In 
this  Alpine  region,  however,  is  found  a  parish,  Maneille, 
including  a  village  of  the  same  name  and  several  hamlets, 
and  containing  several  hundred  inhabitants. 

Pursuing  still  a  northwest  course,  and  ascending  yet 
higher  the  deep  and  gloomy  valley,  through  which  a  moun- 


DESCKIPTION   OF   THE   COUNTRY.  25 

tain  torrent  comes  pitching  down,  we  arrive  at  the 
parish  of  Macel.  The  valley,  long  before  one  reaches 
this  point,  becomes  exceedingly  picturesque.  In  several 
places,  rocks  surmounted  with  larches  and  pines,  rise  per- 
pendicularly, in  awful  grandeur,  from  almost  the  very 
edge  of  the  water,  so  that  it  would  seem  impossible  to 
make  a  road  between  them  and  the  river.  In  the  upper 
part  of  this  parish,  just  beneath  the  Col-du-Pis,  is  the 
hamlet  of  Balsille,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  torrent,  and 
opposite  to  the  famous,  cone-shaped  mass  of  rocks,  called 
Balsi.  This  spot  is  known  as  the  Thermopylae  of  the 
valleys.  Here  a  few  hundred  dalesmen  defended  them- 
selves a  long  time  successfully  against  twenty  thousand 
French  and  Savoyard  troops,  and  finally  retreated  to  the 
mountain  in  the  rear,  with  scarcely  the  loss  of  a  man. 

The  two  parishes  last  described  are  not  on  the  German- 
esca,  but  on  a  small  branch  that  comes  in  from  the  north- 
west. The  Germanesca  itself,  in  the  upper  part  of  its 
course,  comes  from  the  south-east.  Ascending  this  stream, 
one  is  struck  with  the  increased  wildness  and  barrenness 
of  the  country.  The  side  of  the  mountain  which  bounds 
the  river  on  the  right  bank  has  a  considerable  growth  of 
timber  in  his  ravines.  But  that  on  the  left  bank  is  com- 
posed, for  the  most  part,  of  naked  rocks.  There  is 
scarcely  any  bottom  land  throughout  its  entire  course. 
What  there  is,  is  covered,  in  many  places,  with  masses  of 
rocks  which  have  detached  themselves  from  the  mountain 
sides.  In  some  cases,  the  river  is  almost  blocked  up  with 
them. 

At  first  sight,  a  stranger  would  suppose  that  no  human 
being  would  ever  think  of  taking  up  his  abode  in  a 
region,  abounding  indeed  in  sublime  and  imposing  sce- 
nery, but  withal  so  utterly  wild  and  dreary.     Yet  even 


26  THEWALDENSES. 

here  are  two  populous  parishes.  The  first  is  Eodoret,  the 
second  and  highest  is  Prali.  This  last  is  decidedly  the 
wildest  and  most  barren  of  all  the  parishes  of  the  Wal- 
denses.  The  pines  that  grow  on  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tains are  few,  scattered,  and  dwarfish.  On  the  south  the 
valley  is  completely  shut  in  by  the  lofty  range  of  mount 
Julien,  whose  elevated  peaks  and  sides  are  covered  with 
snow  even  in  July.  Not  unfrequently  the  whole  parish 
is  covered  with  snow  during  eight  and  nine  months  of 
the  year.  Avalanches  are  frequent,  and  often  very 
destructive.  Among  the  heights  south  of  Prali,  are 
twelve  little  lakes  or  ponds,  formed  by  the  melting  of  the 
snows  on  mount  Julien.  They  are  nearly  on  the  route 
from  Prali  over  to  Bobi,  in  the  valley  of  Luserne. 


ANTIQUITY    OF    THE    WALDENSES. 

The  Waldenses  are  in  all  essential  particulars  Presby- 
terian in  order,  and  Calvinistic  in  doctrine.  But  they  are 
not,  technically  speaking,  Protestants,  nor  are  they  to  be 
counted  among  the  Reformed  churches.  Though  Italians, 
and  living  upon  the  very  confines  of  the  papacy,  they  have 
never  had  any  connection  with  the  church  of  Rome,  and 
have  had  therefore  none  of  its  corruptions  from  which  to 
reform.  Their  poverty  and  their  inaccessible  situation 
were  their  protection  from  encroachment,  during  the  earlier 
centuries,  whilst  the  papal  power  was  gradually  acquiring 
its  colossal  dimensions.  When  the  reformed  churches  of 
Germany,  France,  and  England  threw  oiF  the  yoke  of  the 
papacy,  and  began  to  restore  Christianity  within  their 
borders  to  its  original  simplicity  and  purity,  the  Wal- 
densian  Christians  received  the  tidings  with  gladness,  and 
had  numerous  conferences  with  the  Reformers,  to  their 
mutual  benefit;  but  they  claimed,  at  that  time,  as  for 
centuries  previous  they  had  claimed,  before  their  temporal 
sovereigns,  that  the  faith,  the  worship,  and  the  ecclesiastical 
organization  prevalent  among  them  then,  had  been  handed 
down  among  them  by  uninterrupted  tradition  from  the  very 
earliest  ages  of  Christianity. 

Of  the  conversion  of  the  Waldenses  to  Christianity, 
history  gives  us  no  authentic  account.  Romish  historians 
as  far  back  as  the  year  A.  D.  1250,  represented  them  as  the 


28  THEWALDENSES. 

oldest  sect  of  heretics,  though  unable  to  tell  when  or  how 
their  heresy  began.  Their  own  account  of  the  matter 
uniformly  has  been,  that  their  religion  has  descended  with 
them  from  father  to  son  by  uninterrupted  succession  from 
the  time  of  the  apostles.  There  certainly  is  no  improb- 
ability in  the  conjecture  that  the  gospel  was  preached  to 
them  by  some  of  those  early  missionaries  who  carried 
Christianity  into  Gaul.  The  common  passage  from  Rome 
to  Gaul  at  that  time  lay  directly  through  the  Cottian  xVlps, 
and  Gaul  we  know  received  the  gospel  early  in  the  second 
century  at  the  latest,  probably  before  the  close  of  the  first 
century.  If  the  apostle  Paul  ever  made  that  "journey 
into  Spain,"  (Rom.  xv.  28,)  which  he  speaks  of  in  his 
epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  in  which  ho  proposed  to  go  by 
way  of  Rome,  his  natural  route  would  have  been  in  the 
same  direction,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  his  voice  was 
actually  heard  among  those  retired  valleys.  The  most 
common  opinion  among  Protestant  writers  is,  that  the 
conversion  of  the  Waldenses  was  begun  by  some  of  the 
very  early  Christian  missionaries,  perhaps  by  some  of  the 
apostles  themselves,  on  their  way  to  Gaul,  and  that  it  was 
completed  and  the  churches  more  fully  organized  by  a  large 
influx  of  Christians  from  Rome,  after  the  first  general 
persecution  under  Nero.  The  Christians  of  Rome,  scat- 
tered by  this  terrible  event,  would  naturally  flee  from  the 
plain  country  to  the  mountains,  carrying  with  them  the 
gospel  and  its  institutions. 

Such  is  the  opinion  of  Henry  Arnaud,  one  of  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  Waldensian  pastors.  "Neither  has  their 
church  ever  been  reformed,"  says  Arnaud,*  "whence  arises 
its  title  of  evangelic.    The  Waldenses  are  in  fact  descended 

*  Glorious  Recovery  by  the  Waldenses  of  their  Valleys.  Preface, 
page  14. 


l/' 


ANTIQUITY    OF    THE    WALDENSES.  29 

from  those  refugees  from  Italy,  who,  after  St.  Paul  had 
there  preached  the  gospel,  abandoned  their  beautiful  coun- 
try, and  fled,  like  the  woman  mentioned  in  the  Apocalypse, 
to  these  wild  mountains,  where  they  have,  to  this  day, 
handed  down  the  gospel  from  father  to  son,  in  the  same 
purity  and  simplicity  as  it  was  preached  by  St.  Paul."  This 
is  not  following  fables,  for  there  is  nothing  in  the  relation 
either  improbable  or  absurd.  When  the  Christians  at  Rome 
were  bound  to  stakes,  covered  with  pitch,  and  burnt  in  the 
evenings  to  illuminate  the  city,  is  it  wonderful,  if  the  glare 
of  such  fires  should  induce  those  yet  at  liberty,  to  betake 
themselves  for  shelter,  to  the  almost  inaccessible  valleys  of 
the  Alps,  and  to  the  clefts  of  the  rocks,  trusting  to  that  God 
in  whose  hands  are  the  deep  places  of  the  earth,  and 
considering  that  the  strength  of  hills  is  his  ? 

The  words  of  Arnaud  were  written  near  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century  ;  but  we  have  others  of  a  much  earlier 
date.  The  Waldenses  complain,  that  it  has  been  the  cruel 
policy  of  their  persecutors  to  destroy  all  the  historical 
memorials  of  their  antiquity.  About  the  year  1559,  the 
Roman  Catholics,  with  a  view  to  exterminate  the  protes- 
tants  of  the  valleys,  cruelly  butchered  them,  and  in  order 
to  obliterate  every  memorial  of  them,  diligently  searched 
for  their  records,  which  they  committed  to  the  flames. 
Though  on  this  account  the  testimonies  of  their  antiquity 
are  not  so  ample  as  could  be  wished,  yet  we  possess  a 
variety  of  their  own  declarations  on  this  point  previous  to 
the  period  just  mentioned,  which  have  been  preserved  in 
the  wonderful  providence  of  God.  In  the  Noble  Lesson, 
dated  1100,*  are  contained  the  following  assertions : 

*  This  treatise,  dated  1100,  Leger  tells  us  was  found  quite  entire 
in  a  book  of  parchment,  -written  in  manuscript  in  an  old  Gothic 
character      In  Leger's  time  two  exemplars  were  preserved,  one  at 
3* 


30  THEWALDENSES. 

"Now,  after  the  Apostles,  were  certain  teachers. 

Who  taught  the  waj  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour, 

And  these  are  found  even  at  the  present  day. 

If  any  man  love  those  who  are  good,  he  must  needs  love 
God  and  Jesus  Chris 

Such  an  one  will  neither  curse,  swear,  nor  lie. 

Now,  such  an  one  is  called  a  Waldensian^  and  worthy 
to  be  punished. 

For,  I  dare  say,  and  it  is  very  true. 

That  all  the  Popes,  which  have  been  from  Silvester  to 
this  present, 

And  all  the  Cardinals,  Bishops,  Abbots,  and  the  like. 

Have  no  power  to  absolve  or  pardon." 

In  1530,  the  Waldenses  thus  addressed  Ecolampadius 
and  other  reformers  :  "  That  you  may  at  once  understand 
the  matter,  we  are  a  sort  of  teachers  of  a  certain  necessi- 
tous and  small  people,  who  already,  for  more  than  four 
hundred  years — nay  as  those  of  our  country  frequently 

Cambridge,  and  one  at  Geneva.  Only  the  latter  is  now  to  be  found. 
Mr.  Jackson  saw  it  in  1825.  The  Lesson  is  in  verse,  in  their  own 
ancient  tongue,  that  it  may  be  more  agreeable  to  the  reader,  and 
that  the  youth  may  more  easily  imprint  it  upon  their  memory.  The 
original  begins  thus  : — 

0  frayre  entende  una  nobla  Leygon. 
Sovent  deven  velhar  e  istar  en  oreson. 
C.  nos  veen  aquest  mont  esser  pres  del  chavon 
Mot  curios  deorian  esser  de  bonas  obras  far 
C.  nos  veen  mont  de  la  fin  apropriar,  &c. 

0  Brethren  give  ear  to  a  Noble  Lesson. 

We  ought  always  to  watch  and  pray. 

For  we  see  this  world  to  be  near  a  conclusion. 

We  ought  to  strive  to  do  good  works. 

For  we  see  the  end  of  this  world  to  approach, 

A  thousand  and  one  hundred  years  are  fully 


THEIR    ANTIQUITY.  31 

relate — -from  the  time  of  the  apostles,  have  sojourned  among 
the  most  cruel  thorns,  yet,  as  all  the  pious  have  easily 
judged,  not  without  the  great  favour  of  Christ ;  and 
having  been  stung  and  tormented  by  the  same  thorns, 
have  been  delivered  by  promised  favour." 

Robert  Olevitan,  whom  Leger*  the  historian  describes  as 
"  one  of  the  most  excellent  pastors  of  the  valleys,"  in  a 
preface  to  his  French  version  of  the  Bible,  dated  from  the 
Alps,  Feb.  12,  1335,  dedicates  it  to  God,  and  not  to  the 
rich  and  pompous,  but  to  the  poor  church :  "  No,"  adds 
he,  "  it  is  to  thee  alone  I  present  this  precious  treasure,  in 
the  name  of  a  certain  poor  people,  thy  friends  and 
brethren  in  Jesus  Christ,  who,  ever  since  they  were  blessed 
and  enriched  with  it  hy  the  apostles  and  ambassadors  of 
Christ,  have  still  possessed  and  enjoyed  the  same'' 

In  presenting  their  Confession  of  Faith  to  Francis  I.  of 
France,  1544,  the  Waldenses  protested  that  their  belief 
is  "  entirely  such  as  they  have  received  from  hand  to  hand 

*  John  Leger,  one  of  the  Waldensian  pastors,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  carefully  collected  a  number  of  ancient  documents  of  the 
Waldensian  doctrine.  In  the  persecution,  1655,  the  plunderers  of 
the  Waldenses  deprived  him  of  every  leaf  of  M.S.  in  order  to  bury 
in  oblivion  all  knowledge  of  their  former  existence,  or  long  continued 
principles.  With  incredible  diligence  he  commenced  a  new  search 
in  the  Valleys  on  the  French  side  of  the  Alps,  where  the  destruction 
had  not  been  so  severe,  and  found  authentic  copies  of  the  same 
treatises.  A  number  of  these  he  has  published  in  his  valuable  history 
of  the  Waldenses.  The  Originals  he  delivered  to  Sir  Samuel  Mor- 
land,  who  presented  them  in  1658  to  the  library  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge.  Twenty-one  volumes  were  there  deposited,  but  the  first 
seven  are  now  missing,  though  AUix  quoted  from  one  of  these  seven 
in  1690.  Copies  of  some  of  these  are  preserved  in  Geneva.  The 
remaining  fourteen  volumes,  from  II  to  W,  are  still  to  be  seen  at 
Cambridge. 


32  THEWALDENSES. 

from  their  ancestors,  according  as  their  predecessors,  in  all 
times  and  in  all  ages,  had  taught  them  it." 

These  declarations  were  given  by  the  Waldenses,  while 
in  full  possession  of  their  documents  ;  but  after  the  most  of 
these  were  destroyed  in  1559,  they  still  refer  to  the  fact  of 
their  antiquity.  Accordingly,  in  1580,  they  of  the  valleys 
complained  to  their  prince,  that  a  mission  of  Jesuits  and 
troops  possessed  themselves  of  their  temples  at  the  hour  of 
public  worship,  preventing  the  ministers  on  the  Sabbath 
from  performing  their  duty,  and  that  the  Jesuits  had  along 
with  them  a  judge,  or  lord,  and  sometimes  the  lords  of  the 
valleys,  who  were  furnished  with  his  Highness'  letter. 
They  then  add  ;  "  It  is  a  thing  true  and  notorious,  most 
serene  Duke,  that  his  said  subjects  and  their  ancestors  have 
been  taught  for  a  great  many  hundreds  of  years,  in  the 
true  Christian  religion,  by  their  ministers,  whom  they 
call  honourably  Barbas,  and  that  they  have  sometimes 
taught  them  in  secret  and  nightly  assemblies,  in  imitation 
of  the  primitive  church,  to  avoid  the  persecution  of  the 
ecclesiastics  :  but  afterwards,  observing  that  they  took 
from  that  quarter  a  pretext  to  calumniate  them,  the  matter 
was  reckoned  of  such  consequence,  that  they  have  wished 
to  preach  publicly,  the  holy  doctrine  in  which  they  have 
been  instructed /rom  all  antiquity,  and  from  hand  to  hand 
hy  their  fathers." 

In  one  of  the  manuscripts,  dated  1587,  and  deposited  in 
the  library  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  the  question 
is  put : — "  At  what  time  have  the  religion  and  state  (stata) 
been  preached  in  the  valleys  ?"  The  answer  is  : — "  About 
five  hundred  years,  as  can  be  collected  from  many  his- 
tories ;  but  according  to  the  belief  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  valleys,  it  has  been  from  time  immemorial,  and  from 
father  to  son,  since  the  time  of  the  apostles." 


THEIR    ANTIQUITY.  33 

During  the  dreadful  persecutions  of  1655,  the  churches 
of  Piedmont,  in  a  Confession  of  Faith,  publicly  declare 
their  agreement,  "  in  sound  doctrine,  with  all  the  reformed 
churches  of  France,  Great  Britain,  the  Low  Countries, 
Germany,  Switzerland,  Bohemia,  Poland,  Hungary,  and 
other  places,  being  ready  to  subscribe  to  that  eternal 
truth  of  God  with  our  own  blood,  even  as  our  ancestors, 
since  the  days  of  the  apostles." 

Let  it  be  observed,  then,  that  the  Waldenses  maintain,  and 
have  done  so  from  the  date  of  their  earliest  existing  histories, 
that  their  ancestors  inhabited  the  country  which  they  now 
occupy,  and  held  the  faith  which  they  hold,  since  the  days 
of  the  apostles.     They  are  of  opinion,  that  the  gospel  was 
preached  to  their  forefathers  in  those  valleys  by  Christian 
missionaries  from  Ftome,  or  other  cities  in  Italy  where  it 
had  gained  extensive  ground,  or  that  it  was  introduced  by 
those  who  fled  from  the  plain  country ;  perhaps  some  of 
them  from  Rome  itself,  or  the  neighbourhood  thereof,  dur- 
ing the  persecutions  under  the  Ptoman  emperors.     It  is 
probable,  that  the   truth  was   introduced  by  both  these 
means.     In   a  petition,  presented  by  the  AValdenses  to 
y      Philibert  Emanuel,  duke  of  Savoy  and  prince  of  Piedmont, 
in  the  year  1559,  they  use  the  following  language  :    "  We 
likewise  beseech  your  Royal  Highness  to  consider,  that 
this  religion  which  we  profess  is  not  only  ours,  nor  hath 
it  been  invented  by  men  of  late  years,  as  is  falsely  re- 
ported, but  it  was  the  religion  of  our  fathers,  grandfathers, 
and  great  grandfathers,  and  other  yet  more  ancient  pre- 
decessors of  ours,  and  of  the  blessed  martyrs,  confessors, 
prophets,  and  apostles  ;  and  if  any  can  prove  the  contrary, 
we  are  ready  to  subscribe,  and  yield  thereunto." 

Leger,  their  great  historian,  states,  that  all  the  petitions 
and  addresses  of  these  people  to  their  sovereigns,  from  the 
C 


34  THEWALDENSES, 

earliest  times,  contained  a  sentence  to  the  same  effect, 
namely,  that  thej  had  been  in  the  enjoyment  of  liberty  of 
conscience,  "da  ogni  tempo,  da  tempo  immemoriale," 
from  all  time,  from  time  immemorial.  "  And  is  it  not 
extraordinary,"  asks  Leger,  "that  it  has  never  once 
happened,  that  any  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy,  or  their  minis- 
ters, should  have  offered  the  least  contradiction  to  the 
pretensions  of  their  Waldensian  subjects  ?  Again  and 
again  it  has  been  asserted  by  them,  'We  are  descendants  of 
those,  who  from  father  to  son  have  preserved  entire  the 
apostolical  faith  in  the  valleys  which  we  now  occupy.'  Their 
pretensions  have  been  passed  over  in  silence.  They  have 
been  suffered  to  repeat  their  demands  from  reign  to  reign, 
and  to  carry  them  to  the  feet  of  their  sovereigns : — '  Per- 
mit us  to  enjoy  that  free  exercise  of  our  religion  which 
we  have  enjoyed  from  time  out  of  mind,  and  before  the 
dukes  of  Savoy  became  princes  of  Piedmont.'  I  have 
still  the  copy  of  a  remonstrance,  in  which  I  myself  inserted 
these  very  words,  and  Avhich  the  President  Truchi,  the 
ablest  man  in  the  state,  has  endeavoured  to  answer  on 
every  other  point  but  this.  He  has,  however,  never  dared 
to  touch  upon  our  antiquity.  And  formerly,  in  the 
year  1559,"  continues  Leger,  "  when  Emanuel  Philibert 
was  told,  that  his  Waldensian  petitioners  professed  the 
faith  which  had  been  handed  down  to  them  from  their 
forefathers  from  the  time  of  the  martyrs  and  apostles, 
would  that  great  prince  and  his  court  have  endured  to  be 
told  this  by  these  poor  people,  if  there  had  been  one  par- 
ticle of  truth  to  be  discovered  to  the  contrary,  by  the 
ministers  of  his  royal  highness,  or  by  his  ecclesiastics,  or 
if  any  of  them  could  have  maintained  the  opposite,  and 
shown,  that  they  did  not  descend  from  father  to  son  from 
the  times  of  the  martyrs,  and  confessors,  and  holy  apostles?" 


THEIR    ANTIQUITY.  35 

To  tlie  above-cited  testimonies  of  the  Waldenses  them- 
selves ia  regard  to  their  origin,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
add  what  they  modestly  say  on  this  point,  when  address- 
ing the  Reformers,  in  the  sixteenth  century  : — "  Our  an- 
cestors," say  they,  "have  often  recounted  to  us,  that  we 
have  existed  from  the  time  of  the  apostles.  In  all  matters, 
nevertheless,  we  agree  with  you  ;  and,  thinking  as  you 
think,  from  the  very  days  of  the  apostles  themselves,  we 
have  ever  been  concordant  respecting  the  faith.  In  this 
particular  only,  we  may  be  said  to  diSer  from  you ;  that, 
through  our  fault,  and  the  slowness  of  our  genius,  we  do 
not  understand  the  sacred  writers  with  such  strict  correct- 
ness as  yourselves." 

Let  us  now  see  what  their  enemies  have  said  on  this 
point.  And  here  there  is  an  abundance  of  testimony, 
from  which,  however,  we  can  extract  only  a  single  in- 
stance. Reinerius  uses  the  following  language  respecting 
these  people,  whom  he  denominates  Leonists.  "  Concern- 
ing the  sects  of  ancient  heretics,  let  it  be  observed,  that 
they  have  been  more  than  seventy  in  number  ;  all  of 
which,  save  those  of  the  Manicheans,  the  Arians,  the 
Runcarians,  and  the  Leonists,  which  have  infected  Ger- 
many, have,  through  God's  favour,  been  extirpated. 
Among  all  these  sects,  which  either  still  exist,  or  which 
have  formerly  existed,  there  is  not  one  more  pernicious  to 
the  Church  [of  Rome]  than  that  of  the  Leonists  ;  and  this 
for  three  reasons.  First,  because  it  has  been  of  longer 
continuance ;  for  some  say,  that  it  has  lasted  from  the 
time  of  Sylvester  ;  others,  from  the  time  of  the  apostles. 
Second,  because  it  is  more  general ;  for  there  is  scarcely 
a  country,  in  which  it  does  not  exist.  Third,  because,  that 
whilst  all  other  sects,  through  their  monstrous  blasphe- 
mies against  God,  strike  horror  into  the  hearers,  this  of 


36  THEWALDENSES. 

the  Leonists  has  a  great  appearance  of  piety,  inasmuch  as 
they  live  justly  before  men,  and  believe,  not  only,  all  the 
articles  of  the  creed,  but  every  sound  doctrine  respecting 
the  Deity ;  only  they  speak  evil  of  the  Roman  Church 
and  clergy,  to  which  the  multitude  of  the  laity  are  quite 
ready  to  give  credence." 

That  Reinerius  speaks  of  the  Waldenses  under  the 
name  of  Leonists,  is  quite  clear,  from  what  he  says  in 
other  places.  In  addition  to  this,  Pilichdorf,  a  writer  of 
the  same  century,  expressly  says,  that  the  persons  Avho 
claim  to  have  existed  from  the  time  of  Pope  Sylvester, 
were  the  Waldenses.  And  Claude  Scyssel,  Archbishop 
of  Turin,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  in 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth,  and  who,  from  his  vicinity 
to  them,  as  well  as  from  the  fact  that  they  were  geogra- 
phically comprehended  in  his  diocese,  must  have  had  good 
opportunities  of  knowing  their  origin  and  history,  tells  us, 
that  the  Waldenses  of  Piedmont  took  their  origin  from  a 
person  named  Leo,  who,  in  the  time  of  the  emperor  Con- 
stantine,  execrating  the  avarice  of  Pope  Sylvester,  and 
the  immoderate  endowment  of  the  Roman  Church,  seceded 
from  that  communion,  and  drew  after  him  all  those  who 
entertained  right  sentiments  concerning  the  Christian 
religion. 

These  statements  prove,  not  that  the  Waldenses  origi- 
nated as  this  writer  suggests,  but  that  they  were  incon- 
testably  the  people  meant  by  the  Roman  Catholic  writers, 
when  treating  of  the  ancient  Leonists. 

On  the  subject  of  the  antiquity  of  the  Waldenses,  M. 
Renouard,  author  of  an  elaborate  Avork  on  the  Pro- 
vencal language  and  literature,  and  who  discusses  this 
question  not  as  an  ecclesiastical  historian,  but  simply  as  a 
philologist,  says  that  "  the  dialect  of  the  Waldenses  is  an 


THEIR    ANTIQUITY.  37 

idiom  intermediate  between  the  decomposition  of  the 
language  of  the  Romans  and  the  establishment  of  a  new 
grammatical  system ;  a  circumstance  which  attests  the 
high  antiquity  of  this  dialect  in  the  country  which  this 
people  inhabit." 

In  speaking  of  the  Noble  Lesson,  the  oldest  work  which 
the  Waldenses  have,  and  Avhich  was,  as  is  conceded  on  all 
hands,  written  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  consequently  more 
ancient  than  the  greater  part  of  the  songs  and  other 
Avritings  of  the  Troubadours,  this  author  says : — "  The 
language  seems  to  me  to  be  of  an  epoch  already  far  sepa- 
rated from  its  original  formation ;  inasmuch  as  we  may 
remark  the  suppression  of  some  final  consonants  ;  a  pecu- 
liarity which  announces,  that  the  words  of  the  long-spoken 
dialect  had  already  lost  some  portion  of  their  primitive 
terminations. 

The  philogical  fact,  here  stated,  proves  the  high  anti- 
quity of  the  Waldenses  ;  for  they  must  have  retired  to 
those  valleys  at  a  remote  period  indeed,  if  they  left  the 
plains  of  Italy  before  the  establishment  of  the  new  gram- 
matical system,  of  which  M.  Renouard  speaks.  "  Hence," 
remarks  Mr.  Faber,  "  the  primevally  Latin  Waldenses 
must  have  retired  from  the  lowlands  of  Italy  to  the  valleys 
of  Piedmont,  in  the  very  days  of  primitive  Christianity, 
and  before  the  breaking  up  of  the  Roman  empire  by  the 
persevering  incursions  of  the  Teutonic  nations.  But  it 
is  scarcely  probable,  that  men  would  leave  their  homes  in 
the  fair,  and  warm,  and  fertile  country  of  Italy,  for  the 
wildness  of  desolate  mountains,  and  for  the  squalidity 
of  neglected  valleys — valleys,  which  would  require  all  the 
severe  labour  of  assiduous  cultivation,  and  mountains, 
which  no  labour  could  make  productive — unless  some  very 

paramount  and  overbearing   cause  had  constrained  them 
4  t 


38  THE    WALDENSES. 

to  undertake  such  an  emigration.  Now  a  cause,  precisely 
of  this  description,  we  have  in  the  persecutions,  which, 
during  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  centuries,  occurred 
under  the  emperors  Marcus  Aurelius,  Maximin,  Decius, 
Valerian,  and  Diocletian." 


CljaptH   (KljirL 


CONDITION  BEFORE  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  character 
of  the  early  "\Val- 
densian  church  is 
set  forth  with  sing- 
ular truth  and 
beauty  in  their  an- 
cient insignia,  a 
copy  of  Avhich  is 
here  given.  That 
church  was  indeed 
a  "  light  shining 
in  darkness,''  and 
blessed  be  God  its 
candlestick  hasnot 
yet  been  removed 
from  its  place. 
The  "VValdenses  of 
Piedmont  are,  in  our  view,  primitive  Christians,  who  have 
been  preserved  in  these  valleys  from  the  alterations  succes- 
sively introduced  by  the  church  of  Rome  into  the  evangelical 
worship.  It  is  not  they  who  separated  from  Romanism,  but 
Romanism  which  separated  from  them,  in  modifying  the 
primitive  worship.  Hence  the  impossibility  of  assigning  a 
precise  date  to  their  origin.     The  church  of  Rome,  which, 

(39) 


40  THEWALDENSES. 

in  its  commencement,  also  formed  part  of  the  primitive 
church,  did  not  modify  itself  all  at  once  ;  but,  as  it  became 
powerful,  it  assumed,  together  ^Yith  the  sceptre  of  rule,  the 
display,  the  pride,  and  the  spirit  of  domination  which 
ordinarily  accompany  power  ;  whilst,  amid  the  Waldensian 
valleys,  this  primitive  church,  existing  in  comparative 
obscurity,  remained  in  its  isolation,  free,  and  without 
tendency  to  abandon  the  pure  simplicity  of  its  infanc3^ 
The  independence  of  the  diocese  of  Milan,  and  that  asserted 
by  the  episcopal  see  of  Turin,  in  its  resistance,  in  the  ninth 
century,  to  the  worship  of  images,  contributed  to  maintain 
them  in  this  position.* 

«•  The  following  account  of  the  opinions  of  Claudius,  bishop  of 
Turin,  817 — 839,  is  derived  from  Allix's  "  Remarks  on  the  Ecclesias- 
tical History  of  the  Ancient  Churches  of  Piedmont :" — 

"  We  need  only  read  his  commentary  upon  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  to  assure  us,  tbat  he  everywhere  asserts  the  equality  of  all  the 
apostles  with  St.  Peter,  though  the  occasions  seemed  naturally  to 
engage  him  to  establish  the  primacy  of  St  Peter,  and  that  of  his 
pretended  successors.  This  we  find  in  ten  several  passages  of  that 
commentary  ;  he  only  declares  the  primacy  of  St.  Peter  to  consist 
in  the  honour  he  had  of  founding  the  church  both  amongst  the  Jews 
and  Gentiles,  p.  810.  And  indeed  everywhere  throughout  his 
writings  he  maintains,  that  Jesus  Chi-ist  is  the  only  Head  of  the 
Church. 

"  He  overthrows  the  doctrine  of  merits  in  such  a  manner,  as 
overthows  all  the  nice  distinctions  of  the  papists  on  that  subject. 

"  He  pronounces  anathemas  against  traditions  in  matters  of 
religion :  so  ftir  was  he  from  giving  occasion  to  others  to  suspect 
that  he  made  them  a  part  of  the  object  of  his  faith,  as  the  church  of 
Rome  at  present  doth. 

"  He  maintains,  that  faith  alone  saves  us,  which  is  the  point  that 
BO  extremely  provoked  the  church  of  Rome  against  Luther,  who 
asserted  the  same  thing. 

"  He  holds  the  church  to  be  subject  to  error,  opposite  to  what  at 
this  day  the  Romanists  pretend  in  so  unreasonable  a  manner. 


BEFORE    THE    REFORMATION.  4^ 

The  Waldensian  valleys  could  not  always  preserve  that 
obscure  independence  which  constituted  their  security. 
Romanism,  gradually  invested  with  a  new  worship  un- 
known to  the  apostles,  daily  rendered  more  and  more 
conspicuous  the  contrast  between  its  pompous  innovations 
and  the  antique  simplicity  of  the  Waldenses. 

To  reduce  them  within  the  despotic  unity  of  Rome, 
there  were  sent  against  them  the  agents  of  a  ministry 
equally  unknown  in  the  apostolic  period :  these  were  the 
mquisitors  (1308).  In  consequence  of  the  resistance  which 
they  encountered  in  these  remote  mountains,  the  valley  ot 
Luserne  was  ultimately  (1453)  put  under  interdict.  But 
this  measure  only  established  more  manifestly  the  line  of 
demarcation  which  was  forming  between  the  two  churches ; 
for  although  the  Waldenses  were  not  separated  schismati- 
cally  from  the  Romish  church,  the  external  forms  of  which 

"  He  denies  that  prayers  after  death  may  be  of  any  use  to  those 
that  have  demanded  them. 

"  He  very  smartly  lashes  the  superstition  and  idolatry  which  then 
began  to  be  renewed,  being  supported  by  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  see. 

"  These  things  we  find  in  his  commentary  upon  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians  :  but  the  other  writings  of  this  great  man,  manuscript  and 
printed,  show  us  yet  more  of  his  mind.  Indeed,  we  find  him  giving 
very  public  marks  of  his  zeal  for  the  purity  of  religion  in  several 
points.  First,  he  proposeth  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  in  reference 
to  the  eucharist,  in  a  manner  altogether  conformable  to  the  judgment 
of  antiquity,  following  therein  the  most  illustrious  doctors  of  the 
Christian  church,  and  showing  that  he  was,  as  to  that  matter,  at  the 
farthest  distance  from  the  opinions  which  Paschasius  Iladbertus 
advanced  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  after  that  Claudius  had  writ  his 
commentary  upon  St.  Matthew." 

It  was  worth  our  while  to  take  notice  of  these  opinions  of 
Claudius,  because  the  papists  have  owned  that  the  valleys  of  Pied- 
mont preserved  the  opinions  of  Claudius  in  the  ninth  and  tenth 
centurv. 


42  T  H  E    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S . 

Still  included  them,  they  had  their  own  clergy,  their  own 
worship,  and  their  own  ^^arishes. 

Their  pastors  were  named  barbas,  the  Waldensian  term 
for  wide.  It  was  in  the  almost  inaccessible  solitude  of 
the  Pra-del-Tor,  that  their  school  was  situated.  There 
those  who  were  preparing  to  be  barbas  learned  by  heart 
the  gospels  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John,  the  catholic 
epistles,  and  a  portion  of  those  of  St.  Paul.  They  were 
instructed,  further,  in  Latin,  Romane  (old  French),  and 
Italian.  After  this  they  passed  several  years  in  retire- 
ment, and  they  were  then  consecrated  ministers  by  the 
administration  of  the  sacrament  and  the  imposition  of 
hands. 

They  were  supported  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
the  people,  distributed  among  them  annually  in  a  general 
synod.  A  third  of  these  contributions  was  given  to  the 
ministers,  a  third  to  the  poor,  and  a  third  was  reserved 
for  the  missionaries  of  the  church. 

These  missionaries  always  journeyed  in  pairs,  a  young 
man  and  an  old  man,  the  latter  being  designated  regido?; 
the  former  coadjuteur.  They  traversed  all  Italy,  where 
they  had  fixed  stations  at  different  points,  and  in  almost 
all  the  towns  adherents  :  at  Venice,  for  example,  no  fewer 
than  6000,  and  at  Genoa  as  many.  Each  pastor  being, 
in  his  turn,  a  missionary,  the  younger  men  thus  became 
initiated  in  the  delicate  duties  of  evangelization,  each  being 
under  the  experienced  conduct  of  an  elder,  whom  discipline 
established  as  his  superior,  and  whom  he  obeyed  in  all 
things,  alike  from  duty  and  from  deference.  The  old 
man,  on  his  part,  thus  prepared  himself  for  his  repose,  by 
forming  for  the  church  successors  worthy  of  it  and  of  him- 
self.    His  own  task  finished,  he  could  die  in  peace,  with 


BEFORE    THE    REFORMATION'.  43 

the  consolatory  assurance  of  having  transmitted  the  sacred 
deposit  of  the  gospel  to  prudent  and  zealous  hands. 

Besides  this,  the  barbas  were  instructed  in  some  trade 
or  profession  by  which  they  might  provide,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  for  their  own  living.  Some  were  hawkers,  some 
artizans,  the  greater  number  surgeons  or  physicians ;  and 
all  were  versed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  the  nur- 
ture of  flocks. 

At  the  annual  synod,  held  in  the  valleys,  the  past  con- 
duct of  the  pastors  was  closely  investigated,  and  their 
mutations  of  residence  regulated.  These  mutations  took 
place  every  third  year  among  the  younger  pastors :  the 
old  barbas  were  not  removed.  A  director-general  of  the 
church  was  appointed  at  each  synod,  with  the  designation 
of  President  or  Moderator  ;  the  latter  title  ultimately  pre- 
vailed, and  subsists  to  this  day. 

There  was  nothing  more  remarkable  about  the  early 
Waldenses,  than  their  missionary  spirit.  It  was  by  sending 
out  missionaries,  two  by  two  on  foot,  to  visit  their  brethren 
dispersed  in  various  lands,  that  they  kept  alive  the  little 
piety  which  existed  in  the  world  at  that  day.  These 
missionaries  knew  where  to  find  their  brethren  ;  they  went 
to  their  houses,  held  little  meetings,  administered  the  ordi- 
nances, ordained  deacons,  and  sustained  the  faith  and 
hopes  of  the  tempted  and  persecuted  ones.  It  is  said  that 
these  missionaries  could  go,  at  one  period,  from  Cologne 
to  Florence,  and  stay  every  night  at  the  houses  of  breth- 
ren. It  is  on  account  of  the  great  number  of  missionaries 
which  these  little  and  poor  churches  in  the  valleys  sus- 
tained, that  we  read  of  there  being  sometimes  one  hundred 
and  forty  or  fifty  ministers  at  the  meetings  of  their  synods. 
But  few  of  these  were  needed  at  home ;  the  most  were 
engaged  in  the  foreign  work. 


44  THEWALDENSES. 

It  is  also  remarkable  that  almost  all  the  men  -whom 
God  raised  up  from  time  to  time,  in  France,  and  other 
countries,  for  more  than  six  hundred  years  before  the 
Reformation,  seem  to  have  had  more  or  less  to  do  -with 
the  Waldenses  ;  such  as  Peter  Waldo,  Peter  Bruys,  Henry 
of  Lausanne,  and  Lollard. 

Not  only  did  preachers  go  out  from  the  valleys  to 
proclaim  the  glorious  gospel,  but  humble  pious  pedlars,  or 
itinerating  merchants,  of  Avhom  there  were  many  in  the 
middle  ages,  scattered  the  truth  by  carrying  some  leaves 
of  the  Word  of  Life,  or  some  manuscript  tracts,  beneath 
their  merchandize,  which  they  engaged  those  whom  they 
found  to  be  favourably  disposed,  to  receive  and  read. 

The  following  beautiful  verses,  descriptive  of  this  traffic 
of  the  Waldensian  pedlers,  were  published  in  a  valuable 
religious  Journal,  a  few  years  ago.* 

THE  VAUDOIS  MISSIONARY. 


"  0,  lady  fair,  these  silks  of  mine 

Are  beautiful  and  rare — 
The  richest  web  of  the  Indian  loom 

Which  beauty's  self  might  wear. 
And  these  pearls  are  pure  and  mild  to  behold, 

And  with  radiant  light  they  vie ; 
I  have  brought  them  with  me  a  weary  way  : 

Will  my  gentle  lady  buy  V 

II. 

And  the  lady  smiled  on  the  worn  old  man, 
Through  the  dark  and  clustering  curls 

Which  vailed  her  brow  as  she  bent  to  view 
His  silk  and  glittering  pearls; 

*  The  Londou  Christian  Observer. 


BEFORE    THE    REFORMATION.  45 

And  she  placed  their  price  in  the  old  man's  hau:l, 

And  lightly  turned  away  : 
But  she  paused  at  the  wanderer's  earnest  call — 

"  jNIy  gentle  lady,  stay  I" 

III. 

"  0,  lady  fair,  I  have  yet  a  gem 

Which  a  purer  lustre  flings 
Than  the  diamond  flash  of  the  jewelled  crown 

On  the  lofty  brow  of  kings  ; 
A  wonderful  pearl  of  exceeding  price, 

Whose  virtue  shall  not  decay  ; 
Whose  light  shall  be  as  a  spell  to  thee, 

And  a  blessing  on  thy  way !" 

IV. 

The  lady  glanced  at  the  mirroring  steel. 

Where  her  youthful  form  was  seen, 
Where  her  eyes  shone  clear  and  her  dai'k  locks  waved 

Their  clasping  pearls  between  ; 
"  Bring  forth  thy  pearl  of  exceeding  worth. 

Thou  traveller  gray  and  old ; 
And  name  the  price  of  thy  precious  gem. 

And  my  pages  shall  count  thy  gold." 

V. 

The  cloud  went  ofi"  from  the  pilgrim's  brow. 

As  a  small  and  meagre  book 
Unchased  with  gold  or  diamond  gem. 

From  his  folding  robe  he  took : 
"  Here,  lady  fair,  is  the  pearl  of  price — 

May  it  prove  as  such  to  thee  ! 
Nay,  keep  thy  gold — I  ask  it  not — 

For  the  Word  of  God  is  free." 

VI. 

The  hoary  traveller  went  his  way — 

But  the  gift  he  left  behind 
Hath  had  its  pure  and  perfect  work 

On  that  high-born  maiden's  mind  ; 


46  THEWALDENSES. 

And  she  hath  turned  from  her  pride  of  sin 

To  the  lowliness  of  truth, 
And  -given  her  human  heart  to  God 

In  its  beautiful  hour  of  youth. 

VII. 

And  she  hath  left  the  old  gray  walls 

"Where  an  evil  faith  hath  power, 
The  courtly  nights  of  her  father's  train, 

And  the  maidens  of  her  bower ; 
And  she  hath  gone  to  the  Vaudois  vale. 

By  lordly  feet  untrod, 
Where  the  poor  and  needy  of  earth  are  rich 

In  the  perfect  love  of  God  ! 

The  first  combined  measures  taken  by  tbe  secular 
authority  for  the  destruction  of  the  Vaudois,  do  not  appear 
to  date  before  1209.  At  that  epoch,  the  emperor  Otho 
IV.  having,  after  the  death  of  his  rival,  Philip  of  Suabia, 
been  recognised  by  the  Diet  of  Frankfort,  repaired  to 
Rome,  for  the  purpose  of  being  consecrated  by  pope 
Innocent  III.  who  had  always  favoured  him  against  Philip. 
On  his  way  he  passed  through  'Piedmont.  The  then 
reigning  count  of  Savoy,  Maurice,  had  taken  part  against 
him  in  his  disputes  with  Philip,  and  the  latter  had  given 
him,  as  a  reward,  the  towns  of  Quiers,  Testona,  and 
Modona.  Otho,  now  triumphant,  resolved  to  punish  the 
partisan  of  his  competitor,  by  enfeebling  him  in  his  own 
states  ;  and  he  accordingly  conferred  on  the  archbishop 
of  Turin,  who  was  a  prince  of  the  empire,  authority  to 
destroy  the  Waldenses  by  force  of  arms.  Thus,  the  long 
train  of  persecution  which  this  people  had  to  undergo  was 
not  opened  by  the  house  of  Savoy,  but  by  its  enemies ; 
and  when,  later,  the  house  of  Savoy  itself  entered  on  the 
path  of  cruelty  and  depopulation,  it  was  not  of  its  own 


BEFORE  THE  REFORM  ATI  OX.        47 

motion,  but  ever  under  foreign  influences,  the  most  vin- 
dictive of  which  was  that  of  the  court  of  Rome. 

Thus  was  the  primitive  church  preserved  in  the  Alps  up 
to  the  epoch  of  the  Reformation,  The  Waldenses  are  the 
chain  by  which  the  reformed  churches  are  connected  with 
the  first  disciples  of  our  Saviour.  In  vain  has  popery, 
renegade  from  evangelical  truths,  sought,  a  thousand  times, 
to  break  that  chain ;  it  has  resisted  every  shock  ;  empires 
have  crumbled  away,  dynasties  have  fallen,  but  this  chain 
of  scriptural  testimony  has  not  been  broken,  for  its  strength 
came,  not  from  men,  but  from  God. 


PERSECUTION  BY  YOLANDE  AND  CATANEO. 

It  -was  a  foreigner,  the  sister  of  Louis  XI.,  who  first 
commenced  the  systematic  persecution  of  the  Wahlenses. 
This  was  Yolande,  who,  having  married  Amadeus  IX.,  one 
of  the  best  and  most  charitable  dukes  of  Savoy  that  ever 
honoured  his  dynasty,  became,  in  1472,  as  his  widow,  the 
regent  of  his  dominions.  Her  name,  from  Yolande,  was 
converted  into  Violante,  either  from  some  alteration  of 
orthography  in  the  public  documents,  or  in  allusion  to  her 
violent  and  vindictive  character. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  1476,  without  putting  forth  any 
other  complaint  against  the  Waldenses,  or  alleging  any 
other  ground  for  her  rigour  than  their  creed,  she  ordered 
the  seigneurs  of  Pignerol  and  Cavours  to  bring  them,  at 
whatever  cost,  within  the  bosom  of  the  Romish  church  :  the 
Waldenses,  in  their  turn,  demanded  that  the  Romish  church 
itself  should  be  brought  back  to  the  gospel.  The  duchess 
convoked  her  great  vassals  to  deliberate  on  the  means  of 
reducing  to  silence  these  daring  protestants — if  we  may 
employ  the  term  a  century  before  the  Reformation.  But 
she  had  not  the  opportunity  of  carrying  her  projects  into 
effect,  being  herself  made  prisoner  by  order  of  the  duke  of 
Burgundy,  who,  being  at  war  Avith  Louis  XL,  desired  to 
prevent  her  giving  aid  to  that  monarch.  The  Waldenses, 
however,  had  pertinaciously  refused  to  abjure  their  alleged 
(48) 


;fff.j  ^  n 


1 

'I 


YOLANDE    AND    CATANEO.  40 

heresy,  and  Charles,  Yohande's  second  son,  accordingly 
directed  an  inquiry  to  be  made  into  this  contumacy  (1485). 
This  inquiry  for  the  first  time  officially  manifested  the 
profound  diiference  which  time  had  established  between 
the  Waldenses,  still  faithful  to  the  primitive  faith,  and  the 
Romish  church,  more  and  more  degenerate.  The  result 
was  laid  before  the  holy  see  in  1486.     - 

In  the  following  year,  Innocent  VIII.  fidminatcd  against 
the  Waldenses  a  bull  of  extermination,  by  which  he 
enjoined  all  the  temporal  powers  to  arm  for  their  destruc- 
tion. It  invited  all  catholics  to  take  up  the  cross  against 
them,  "  absolving  from  all  ecclesiastical  pains  and  pen- 
alties, general  and  particular,  those  who  should  take  up 
the  cross ;  releasing  them  from  any  oaths  they  might  have 
taken ;  legitimatizing  their  title  to  any  property  they 
might  have  illegally  acquired  ;  and  promising  remission  of 
all  their  sins  to  such  as  should  kill  any  heretic.  It  annulle<l 
all  contracts  made  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses ;  ordered 
their  domestics  to  abandon  them,  forbade  all  persons  to 
give  them  any  aid  whatever,  and  empowered  all  persons  to 
take  possession  of  their  property." 

Forthwith  several  thousands  of  volunteers — vagabond 
adventurers,  ambitious  fanatics,  reckless  pillagers,  mer- 
ciless assassins — assembled  from  all  parts  of  Italy  to 
execute  the  behests  of  the  pseudo-successor  of  St.  Peter. 
This  horde  of  brigands,  suitable  support  of  a  profligate 
pontiff,  marched  against  the  valleys,  in  the  train  of  another 
army  of  18,000  regular  troops,  contributed  in  common  b}^ 
the  king  of  France  and  the  sovereign  of  Piedmont. 

Yet  no  crime  was  alleged  against  the  unhappy  Waldenses, 

even  by  the  pope  himself.    His  exterminating  bull  itself 

admitted  that  their  chief  means  of  seduction  was  their 

marked  manifestation  of  sanctity.     The  destruction  of  this 

5  D 


50  THEWALDENSES. 

feeble  folk  seemed  inevitable  at  the  hands  of  so  over- 
whelming a  force  of  foes  ;  but  God  undertook  their  defence, 
breathing  a  spirit  of  confusion  into  the  ranks  of  their 
enemies,  of  steady  courage  into  their  own. 

The  papal  legate  who  was  charged  with  the  execution  of 
these  sanguinary  orders,  was  an  archdeacon  of  Cremona, 
nam.cd  Albert  Cataneo,  or  de  Cataneis.  He  took  up  his 
abode  first  at  Pignerol,  in  the  convent  of  San  Larenzo, 
whence  he  despatched  preaching  monks  to  essay  the 
conversion  of  the  Waldenses,  ere  he  assailed  them  with 
arms.  These  missionaries  obtaining  no  success,  he  himself 
advanced  into  the  valleys.  The  inhabitants  sent  to  him 
as  delegates,  John  Campo  and  John  Desiderio,  who  thus 
addressed  him  : — "  Do  not  condemn  us  without  hearing  us, 
for  we  are  Christians  and  faithful  subjects  ;  and  our  barbas 
are  prepared  to  prove,  in  public  or  in  private,  that  our 
doctrines  are  conformable  with  the  word  of  God.  True,  we 
have  not  followed  the  transgressors  of  the  evangelical  law, 
who  have  so  long  departed  from  the  tradition  of  the 
apostles  ;  we  have  rejected  their  corrupt  precepts,  and 
refused  to  recognise  any  other  authority  than  that  of  the 
Bible  ;  but  we  find  our  happiness  in  a  pure  and  simple  life, 
wherein  alone  the  Christian  faith  takes  root  and  flourishes. 
We  despise  the  love  of  riches  and  the  thirst  of  dominion, 
wherewith  our  persecutors  are  devoured.  Our  hope  in  God 
is,  however,  greater  than  our  desire  to  please  men  :  beware 
how  you  draw  down  upon  yourselves  his  anger  by  per- 
secuting us  ;  for  remember,  that  if  God  so  wills  it,  all  the 
forces  you  have  assembled  against  us  will  nothing  avail." 

This  noble  confidence  was  not  deceived.  At  the  will 
of  God  this  army  of  invaders  vanished  from  the  "Waldensian 
mountains  as  rain  in  the  sands  of  the  desert. 

The  inhabitants  concentrated   themselves  on   the   most 


YOLANDE    AND    CATANEO.  51 

inaccessible  points  ;  the  enemy,  on  the  contrary,  spread 
themselves  over  the  plains.  From  strategetic  incapacity, 
or  from  an  ostentatious  desire  to  make  a  great  display  of 
military  force,  Cataneo  resolved  to  make  an  attack  simul- 
taneously on  all  the  leading  points,  to  that  from  the  village 
of  Biolet,  in  the  marquisate  of  Saluzzo,  to  that  of  Sezanne, 
in  Dauphiny,  his  shallow  lines  occupied  the  whole  country. 
It  was  his  idea  to  stifle  with  one  blow  the  hydra  of  heresy : 
with  one  blow  his  own  power  was  shattered,  his  lines 
broken,  and  his  battalions  assailed,  in  their  precipitate 
flight,  by  those  whom  they  had  come  to  crush. 

The  only  weapons  employed  were  pikes,  swords,  and 
arrows.  The  Waldenses  constructed  shields  and  cuirasses 
of  skins,  covered  with  the  thick  bark  of  the  chestnut-tree, 
and  these  arrested  the  enemy's  arrows,  which,  shot  from 
below,  penetrated  without  piercing  these  defences  ;  while 
the  Waldenses,  vigorous  and  skilful,  full  of  confidence  in 
God,  and  better  posted,  discharged  their  weapons  from 
above  Avith  triumphant  advantage.  There  was  one  post, 
however,  which,  despite  the  energy  of  the  defence,  seemed 
about  to  be  forced  by  the  enemy — the  central  point  of  this 
great  line  of  operations,  on  the  heights  of  San  Giovanni, 
near  the  Angrogna  mountains,  at  a  place  called  Rocca- 
manante. 

The  crusaders  having  by  degrees  ascended  the  mountain, 
had  reached  this  natural  bulwark,  behind  which  the 
Waldenses  had  placed  their  families.  These,  seeing  them 
draw  back,  fell  on  their  knees,  and  exclaimed  with  fervour, 
"  0  Lord  God,  help  them  !  0  Lord  God,  save  us !"  The 
enemy,  who  from  a  distance  beheld  their  suppliant  attitude, 
sent  forth  a  contemptuous  shout  of  laughter,  and  hastened 
their  march.  "You  shall  be  saved  with  a  vengeance," 
cried  one  of  their  chiefs,  named,  from  his  dark  complexion, 


52  T  H  E    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  , 

II  Nero  di  Mondovi ;  and  as  he  spoke  he  raised  his  visor, 
in  scorn  of  the  poor  folk,  whom  he  thought  he  coukl  insult 
with  impunity  ;  but  at  the  very  instant  an  arrow,  shot  by 
a  young  man  of  Angrogna,  called  Peter  Revelli,  pierced 
the  forehead  of  this  modern  Goliath  between  the  eyes,  and 
laid  him  dead  on  the  spot.  His  men,  struck  with  panic  and 
fear,  drew  back  in  disorder;  the  Waldenses,  taking  advan- 
tage of  their  terror,  sallied  forth,  and,  rushing  upon  them, 
drove  them  down  to  the  plain,  where  they  dispersed  in 
flight. 

A  fresh  endeavour  was  made  next  day  to  obtain  posses- 
sion of  the  redoubtable  post.  The  enemy,  adopting  a 
different  route,  proceeded  along  the  valley  of  Angrogna, 
on  their  way  to  the  Pra-del-Tor,  whence,  ascending  by  La 
Vachera,  they  would  have  rendered  themselves  masters  of 
the  whole  country.  But  one  of  those  thick  fogs  which,  at 
times,  suddenly  arise  in  the  Alps,  came  upon  them,  just  as 
they  were  involved  in  the  most  dangerous  and  most  difficult 
defiles.  Ignorant  of  the  locality,  advancing  in  doubt, 
uncertain  which  way  to  turn,  and  unable  to  advance  in  a 
body  over  these  rocks,  bordered  with  precipices,  they  were 
checked  by  the  first  attack  of  the  Waldenses,  and  speedily 
defeated.  The  first  who  were  repulsed  fell  back  on  those 
who  were  behind  them,  these  on  the  next,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  utter  disorder  prevailed:  retreat  s'oon  became 
flight,  flight  catastrophe,  the  fugitives  falling  over  the 
humid  rocks  into  the  fatal  abysses  below.  Few  of  the 
assailants  escaped  ;  and  this  decisive  rout,  due  to  the  will 
of  God  rather  than  to  the  arms  of  the  Waldenses,  completed 
the  deliverance  of  this  valley,  Avhich  was  not  again  visited 
by  Cataneo's  troops. 

On  the  mountain  of  Roderi,  in  the  valley  of  Pragela, 
the  Waldenses,  favoured  by  the  nature  of  the  locality,  put 


Y  0  L  A  N  D  E    A  N  D    C  A  T  A  X  E  0 .  53 

to  flight  the  crusaders,  by  rolling  down  upon  them  avalan- 
ches of  rocks  ;  after  this  they  descended,  attacked  them, 
man  to  man,  and  prolonged  the  fight  till  the  evening.  The 
legate  then  drew  off  to  Dauphiny.  There  a  battalion  of 
his  forces,  700  strong,  entering  the  village  of  Pommiere, 
in  the  Val-Louise,  which  they  designed  to  plunder,  were 
suddenly  attacked  by  the  Waldenses ;  and  all  those  who 
escaped  the  fury  of  the  first  assault  perished  within  a  few 
days  in  the  gorges  of  the  mountains.  The  standard-bearer 
alone,  after  remaining  concealed  in  a  ravine  for  two  days, 
came  forth  to  avoid  death  by  starvation  and  cold,  and 
yielded  himself  up  to  the  Waldenses,  who  afforded  him 
sustenance  and  asylum,  with  that  generous  forgiveness  of 
injuries  which  Christ  has  inculcated  on  his  faithful.  The 
prisoner's  strength  restored,  he  was  permitted  to  depart ; 
and  it  was  he  who  made  known  the  total  defeat  of  his 
companions. 

After  these  futile  and  inglorious  expeditions,  the  duke 
of  Savoy  withdrew  his  troops,  dismissed  the  legate,  under 
pretext  that  his  mission  was  completed,  and  sent  a  bishop 
to  the  Waldenses  to  induce  them  to  make  overtures  for  a 
peace,  which,  they  were  assured,  would  be  granted  them. 
The  interview  of  this  envoy  with  the  evangelical  Christians 
of  the  Alps  took  place  in  the  hamlet  of  Prasuyt,  on  the 
borders  of  the  parishes  of  Angrogna  and  San  Giovanni. 
It  was  there  agreed  that  the  Waldenses  should  send  a 
representative  from  each  of  their  churches  to  wait  upon 
the  prince,  who  was  to  repair,  for  that  purpose,  to  Pignerol. 
At  this  meeting  it  was  that  the  prince  required  to  see 
some  of  their  children,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  it 
was  really  true  that  they  were  born  with  black  throats, 
hairy  teeth,  and  goat's  feet,  as  the  Romanists  asserted. 
"  Is  it  possible,"  he  exclaimed,  when  he  saw  several  of 
5- 


5i  THEWALDENSES. 

th-ese  children, — "  is  it  possible  that  these  are  the  children 
of  heretics !  What  charming  creatures  !  They  are  the 
finest  children  I  ever  beheld  !"  The  prejudice  thus  dis- 
sipated rnay  appear  ridiculous,  but  it  was  calculated  to  be 
of  potent  effect  in  an  ignorant  age.  Superstition,  which 
obscures  the  moral  and  religious  sense,  throws  also  its 
veil  over  all  the  other  parts  of  the  human  intellect ;  as,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  light  of  the  gospel,  in  illuminating  the 
soul  which  has  received  it,  elevates,  aggrandizes,  and  puri- 
fies all  the  intellectual  powers. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    VAL-LOUISE. 

In  the  general  description  of  the  country  of  the  Wal- 
denses,  which  is  given  in  the  second  chapter,  we  have 
confined  ourselves  to  the  present  limits  of  that  people. 
They  extended,  however,  at  one  time,  far  beyond  those 
limits,  into  similar  mountain  valleys  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Alps,  into  Savoy  on  the  north,  into  Provence  and  Dau- 
phiny  in  France  on  the  west,  into  the  valley  of  the  Po,  and 
into  the  plain  country  between  their  present  territory  and 
Turin.  In  regard  to  some  of  these  Waldensian  settle- 
ments, it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  they  were  the  original 
population,  or  whether  they  were  early  emigrants  from 
the  Piedmontese  valleys.  They  were,  however,  all  homo- 
geneous in  character,  and  they  all  looked  to  the  Piedmontese 
valleys  as  a  sort  of  mother  country,  the  recognized  centre 
and  starting  point  of  their  race  and  their  religion.  Some 
of  the  earliest  records  of  the  history  of  this  people  of  God 
relate  to  those  valleys  from  which  they  have  been  since 
expelled,  and  where  few,  if  any,  of  their  name  or  faith  are 
now  to  be  found. 

Among  the  French  valleys,  formerly  occupied  by  a 
Waldensian  population,  the  first  to  be  named  is  the  Val- 
Louise.  This  is  a  deep,  cold  gorge,  which  descends  from 
Mont  Pelvoux  to  the  basin  of  the  Durance.  The  earliest 
ascertained   persecution  of  the   people  of  this  valley  was 

(55) 


56  THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S . 

between  1238  and  1243.  A  century  later,  in  1335,  Ave  find, 
in  the  accounts-current  of  the  bailli  of  Embrun,  this  singu- 
lar article  ;  Item,  for  persecuting  the  Waldensian,  eight 
sols  and  thirfg  deniers,  gold ;  as  though  the  persecution 
of  these  Christians  of  the  Alps  had  then  become  a  regular 
department  of  the  public  service  ! 

Chabert,  one  of  the  Waldensian  brethren  of  the  valley 
of  Luserne,  more  than  five  hundred  years  before,  had 
bought,  from  the  dauphin  John  II.,  a  large  house  in  Val- 
Louise,  which  he  had  presented  to  the  brethren  of  that 
district  for  the  purpose  of  their  religious  assemblies.  Tliis 
edifice  the  archbishop  of  Embrun  destroyed,  in  1348, 
excommunicating  beforehand  any  persons  who  should 
attempt  to  rebuild  it,  and  burning,  at  the  same  time, 
twelve  Waldenses  who  had  been  found  in  the  house  by  the 
archbishop's  satellites.  These  unfortunate  captives,  being 
taken  to  Embrun,  and  collected  in  the  square  facing  the 
cathedral,  amid  a  crowd  of  people,  and  more  immediately 
surrounded  by  fanatic  monks,  were  enveloped  in  a  yellow 
robe,  on  which  were  painted  flames,  symbolizing  those  of  the 
hell  to  which  they  were  declared  doomed  ;  their  heads  were 
shaved,  and  they  were  publicly  anathematized  ;  then,  with 
bare  feet,  and  ropes  round  their  necks,  they  were  fastened 
to  the  stake  and  strangled  ;  fire  Avas  then  applied  ;  their 
bodies  returned  to  dust,  their  souls  ascended  to  their 
God. 

A  young  inquisitor,  Francesco  Borelli,  obtained  from 
pope  Gregory  XL  pressing  letters  to  the  king  of  France, 
the  duke  of  Savoy,  and  the  governor  of  Dauphiny,  enjoin- 
ing them  to  unite  their  forces  for  the  purpose  of  extirpating 
from  the  Alps  this  inveterate  heresy.  The  inquisitor 
undertook  the  charge  of  the  temporal  arms  that  were 
confided  to   him ;  and  his  persecutions  left  not  a  single 


T  H  E    V  A  I,  -  L  0  r  I  S  E  .  57 

village  unassailed.  Like  the  fabulous  robe  of  the  centaur, 
vhich  destroyed  whatever  it  touched,  it  seized  -whole 
families,  whole  populations,  so  that  the  prisons  were  soon 
inadequate  to  receive  the  multitude  of  prisoners.  New 
dungeons  were  constructed  for  them,  of  mere  bare  walls, 
designed  only  to  secure  and  inflict  suffering  on  the  captives. 
Borelli  began  with  summoning  before  him  all  ihe 
inhabitants  of  these  valleys  :  they  did  not  appear,  and 
he  condemned  them  for  not  appearing.  Thencefoward, 
exposed  to  be  surprised  by  his  satellites,  they  suffered  the 
double  anguish  of  their  own  perils  and  the  anguish  of  their 
families.  One  was  seized  on  the  highway,  another  in  his 
field,  another  by  his  fireside  ;  for  fifteen  years  did  this 
work  of  extermination  proceed. 

At  length,  on  22d  May,  1393,  all  the  churches  of 
Embrun  were  decked  as  for  a  grand  solemnity,  and  the 
cathedral  especially,  where  the  mass  of  the  local  clergy, 
covered  with  their  theatrical  decorations,  were  grouped  in 
the  choir,  while,  near  them,  a  double  line  of  soldiers  served 
at  once  to  keep  back  the  people  in  the  nave,  and  to  guard 
a  troop  of  prisoners,  soldiers  of  Christ,  condemned,  for 
their  vindication  of  his  word,  to  be  burned  alive.  Pres- 
ently the  list  of  these  martyrs  was  read  out  to  the  people. 
There  w'ere  eighty  from  the  valleys  of  Frayssinieres  and 
Argentiere,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  from  the  Val- 
Louise — a  large  proportion  of  the  population  of  that  valle}^ ; 
and  after  each  name  was  pronounced  the  fatal  formula  that 
condemned  the  living  bodies  of  these  two  hundred  and 
thirty  victims  to  the  stake !  The  solitude  of  the  desert 
now  reigned  in  these  depopulated  mountains  ;  and  as  the 
wolves  abandon  the  exhausted  charnel-house,  the  inquisi- 
tors withdrew  from  these  impoverished  valleys. 

For  a  while  France  had  enouo;h  to  do  in  saving  herself 


58  THEWALDENSES. 

from  utter  destruction  at  the  hands  of  the  English,  owing 
her  final  safety  only  to  the  enthusiasm  of  a  young  girl, 
Joan  of  Arc.  Meantime,  the  Waldensian  churches  grad- 
ually raised  up  their  heads  once  more,  as  violets  from  amid 
the  rocks,  the  breath  of  persecution  propagating  their 
evangelical  faith,  as  the  wind  bears  afar  the  fragrance  of 
the  flower.  But  the  haughty  and  brutal  animosity  of  the 
papacy  grew  also ;  and  towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Innocent  VIII.  proclaimed  against  the  Waldenses 
that  war  of  extermination,  the  conduct  of  which,  as  we 
have  seen  in  a  former  chapter,  he  committed  to  Albert 
Cataneo. 

It  Avas  in  the  month  of  June,  1488,  that  this  worthy 
legate  of  the  pope,  having  fruitlessly  essayed  to  subjugate 
the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  passed  into  France  by  Mont 
Genevre,  where  he  caused  to  be  strangled  eighteen  of  these 
poor  folk  whom  he  had  made  prisoners.  Thence  he  made 
an  onslaught  upon  Briangon,  a  town  which  had  been 
indicated  to  him  as  a  nest  of  heresy ;  and  from  this 
marched  upon  Frayssinieres,  whose  few  and  poorly  armed 
inhabitants  retired  to  a  rock  overlooking  the  church,  where 
they  were  surrounded  by  the  troops,  and  made  prisoners. 

Cataneo's  ferocious  fanatics  thence  entered  the  deep 
gorge  of  Val-Louise.  The  Waldenses,  feeling  that  they 
could  not  resist  a  force  tw^enty  times  greater  than  their 
own,  abandoned  their  poor  habitations,  placed  their  old 
people  and  children  in  their  rustic  carts,  with  their 
domestic  utensils  and  such  provisions  as  they  could  collect, 
and,  driving  their  herds  before  them,  and  singing  canticles, 
retired  to  the  rugged  slopes  of  Mont  Pelvoux.  This  part  of 
the  Alps  rises  more  than  six  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  valley.  A  third  of  the  way  up  there  is  an  immense 
cavern,  called  Aigue-Froide  or   Ailfrede,   from   the   cold 


THEVAL-LOUISE.  59 

springs,  nourished  by  the  snows,  "which  are  found  there. 
A  sort  of  platform,  accessible  only  over  fearful  precipices, 
extends  at  the  mouth  of  the  cavern,  the  majestic  vault  of 
which,  after  subsiding  into  a  narrow  passage,  expands  once 
more  into  an  immense  hall,  of  irregular  form.  Such  was 
the  asylum  which  the  Waldenses  had  selected.  They 
placed  at  the  extremity  of  the  grotto,  the  women,  children, 
and  old  men ;  the  cattle  and  sheep  occupied  the  lateral 
cavities  of  the  rock,  and  the  able-bodied  men  posted  them- 
selves towards  the  mouth  of  the  cavern,  which,  after 
having  first  barricaded  with  large  rocks  the  path  that  led 
to  the  grotto,  they  had  walled  up  with  similar  materials. 
Cataneo  states,  in  his  Memoirs,  that  they  had  with  them 
provisions  for  more  than  two  years.  All  their  precautions 
thus  taken,  they  deemed  they  had  nothing  to  fear  ;  but  in 
reality  they  had  to  fear  this  very  confidence  in  mere 
human  precautions. 

Cataneo  had  with  him  a  daring  and  experienced  leader, 
named  La  Palud.  This  captain,  seeing  the  impossibility 
of  forcing  the  entrenchments  of  the  grotto  on  the  side  by 
which  the  Waldenses  had  reached  it,  led  his  own  men 
back  into  the  valley ;  then,  with  all  the  ropes  he  could 
collect,  he  ascended  Mont  Pelvoux,  and,  making  his  way 
to  the  precipice  overhanging  the  entrance  to  the  cavern, 
descended,  by  means  of  the  ropes,  to  the  platform. 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  easy  than  for  the  Waldenses 
either  to  cut  the  ropes,  or  to  slay  each  soldier  before  he 
reached  the  ground,  and  then  hurl  him  into  the  abyss ;  but 
a  panic  terror  seized  the  unhappy  besieged.  Some  who 
rushed  out  from  the  cavern  precipitated  themselves  down 
the  rocks.  Those  who  essayed  resistance  were  slaughtered 
by  La  Palud,  who  then,  not  venturing  to  involve  his  men 
in  the  depths  of  the  cavern,  piled  up  all  the  wood  he  could 


60  THE    W  A  L  D  E  X  S  E  S  . 

collect  at  tlie  entrance,  and  set  fire  to  it.  Those  avIio 
attempted  to  issue  forth  Avere  either  destroyed  by  the 
flames,  or  by  the  sword  of  the  enemy,  while  those  who 
remained  within  Avere  stifled  by  the  smoke.  When  the 
cavern  was  afterwards  examined,  there  were  found  in  it 
four  hundred  infants  suffocated  in  their  cradles,  or  in  the 
arms  of  their  dead  mothers.  Altogether  there  perished  in 
this  cavern  more  than  three  thousand  Waldenses — including 
the  entire  population  of  Val-Louise.  Cataneo  distributed  the 
property  of  these  unfortunates  among  the  vagabonds  who 
accompanied  him,  and  never  again  did  the  Waldensian 
church  raise  its  head  in  these  blood-stained  valleys. 


chapter   lia'tli. 

HISTORY     OF     BARCELONNETTE,     QUEYRAS,     AND 
FRAYSSINIERES. 

The  valley  of  Barcelonnette  in  Savoy  is  a  hollow  closod 
in  on  all  sides  by  almost  inaccessible  mountains.  The 
period  of  the  first  advent  hither  of  the  Waldenses  is 
unknown ;  but  we  find  that  when  Farel  came  to  preach 
here  in  1519,  at  Josiers,  the  population  rejoiced  to  hear, 
by  the  voice  of  the  reformer,  the  doctrines  of  their  fore- 
fathers proclaimed  aloud  in  all  their  evangelical  purity. 

In  1366,  a  rigorous  order  enjoined  all  the  AYaldenses 
of  Barcelonette  either  to  embrace  Romanism,  or  to  quit 
the  territory  of  Savoy  within  a  month,  under  penalty  of 
death  and  confiscation  of  their  property.  Most  of  them 
resolved  to  retire  to  the  valley  of  Frayssinieres,  which  be- 
longed to  France  ;  but  it  was  now  deep  winter  ;  the  roads 
were  covered  with  snow  and  ice  ;  the  women,  children,  and 
old  men  could  advance  but  slowly,  so  that  wearied  and 
cold,  they  were  fain  to  lie  down  for  the  night  on  the  snow, 
and  numbers  were  frozen  into  the  sleep  of  death.  The 
survivors  reached  with  difficulty  the  paternal  asylum 
that  had  been  opened  to  them.  When,  however,  the  gov- 
ernor of  Barcelonnette  proposed  to  distribute  the  property 
of  the  proscribed  amongst  the  catholic  population  of  the 
valley,  these  noble  men  refused  to  accept  the  gift,  and 
the  exiles  were  thereupon  permitted  to  return  and  resume 
their  possessions,  the  authorities  perceiving  that  otherwise 
6  C^l) 


62  THEWALDENSES. 

the  land  would  remain  uncultivated,  and  the  valley  in  a 
large  degree  uninhabited.  Still  the  Waldenses  were  not 
allowed  openly  to  exercise  their  religion,  but  were  fain 
several  times  in  the  year  to  traverse  the  glaciers  to  Vars, 
in  the  territory  of  France,  to  receive  the  communion  and 
the  benediction  of  a  pastor. 

Half  a  century  later  (in  1623)  persecution  recom- 
menced. A  Dominican  monk,  named  Bouvetti,  obtained 
from  the  duke  of  Savoy  authority  to  proceed  against  the 
Waldenses  of  Barcelonnette,  to  whom  he  brought  once 
more  the  alternative  of  abjuration  or  exile.  The  execu- 
tion of  this  alternative  was  pitilessly  prosecuted  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  valley,  Francis  Dreux ;  so  that  after  many 
fruitless  endeavours  to  effect  a  modification  of  their  fate, 
the  Waldenses,  unshaken  in  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  had 
once  more,  and  now  without  return,  to  abandon  their 
native  valley,  and  to  seek  an  asylum  in  lands  less  afflicted. 
Some  withdrew  to  Queyras  and  Gapencois,  others  to 
Orange  and  Lyon,  others  to  Geneva,  others  still  to  the 
valleys  of  Piedmont,  which  seemed  their  mother-country. 

The  inhabitants  of  Frayssinieres  in  France,  whose 
laborious  habits  and  pure  life  the  illustrious  De  Thou  has 
depicted  in  the  most  vivid  colours,  were  also  in  their  turn 
the  victims  of  persecution  ;  between  1056  and  1290  no 
fewer  than  five  papal  bulls  demanded  their  extirpation, 
and  so  early  as  1238  the  Inquisition  preyed  upon  them. 

In  1344,  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Frayssinieres, 
being  persecuted,  took  refuge  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmo-nt ; 
but  they  afterwards  returned  thence  with  their  barbas, 
resisted  the  inquisitors,  and  were  soon  stronger  than 
before. 

After  the  extermination  of  the  Waldenses  of  Val-Louise, 
the   bloody  Cataneo,  undertook  to  deal   with    those    of 


BARCELONNETTE,  FR  A  YSSIX  lER  E  S,  ET  C.       G3 

Frayssiniercs,  and  summoned  them  to  appear  before  him 
at  Embrun.  Kno^ving  that  the  object  was  to  obtain  their 
abjuration,  they  did  not  attend  ;  hereupon  they  were  con- 
demned, as  contumacious  rebels  and  heretics,  to  be  burned, 
and  their  property  to  be  confiscated  to  the  Romish  church. 
Such  of  them  as  Avere  seized  were  accordingly  sent  to 
the  stake  Avithout  any  further  formality;  and  any  one 
who  interceded  for  them,  though  it  were  a  son  for  a 
mother,  a  father  for  his  child,  was  immediately  impris- 
oned, and,  in  many  cases,  condemned  also  to  the  flames  as 
abetting  heresy. 

Upon  the  death  of  Charles  VIIL,  in  1498,  delegates 
from  almost  all  the  provinces  of  the  kingdom  repaired  to 
Paris  to  take  part  in  the  coronation  of  Louis  XII. ;  and 
the  inhabitants  of  Frayssinieres  took  the  occasion  to 
depute  one  of  their  number  to  attend,  and  to  lay  their 
complaints  before  the  new  sovereign.  Louis  XII.  referred 
the  matter  to  his  council,  and  after  consultation  with  the 
pope,  papal  and  royal  commissioners  were  appointed  to 
investigate  the  subject  on  the  spot.  Upon  arriving  at 
Embrun,  these  commissioners  had  all  the  documents  of 
the  processes  against  the  Waldenses  on  the  part  of  the  in- 
quisitors laid  before  them,  and  having  investigated  them, 
censured  the  bishop,  and  annulled  all  the  condemnations 
pronounced    against    the    inhabitants    of    Frayssinieres. 

After  this,  the  Waldensian  Christians  in  Dauphiny  expe- 
rienced various  turns  of  fortune,  some  of  them  memorable 
indeed,  but  we  have  not  space  to  dwell  upon  them  more 
particularly.  During  the  17th  century,  they  were  per- 
mitted freely  to  exercise  their  religion,  and  had  regular 
pastors  at  Restolas,  Abries,  Chateau-Queyros,  Arvieux, 
Moline,  and  St.  Veran. 

The  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  destroyed  their 


64  T  II  E    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 

temples  and  proscribed  themselves.  Thousands  of  them 
went  into  exile.  Those  of  Queyras  withdrew  into  the 
valleys  of  Piedmont.  Under  Lewis  XV.  their  faith  being 
still  interdicted,  these  poor  people  exercised  their  worship 
in  the  desert,  like  those  of  Le  Gard  and  of  the  Cevennes. 
When  a  religious  assembly  was  to  take  place,  the  villagers , 
descended  separately,  by  different  paths,  with  spade  on 
shoulder,  as  if  repairing  to  their  work,  and  all  would  meet 
in  some  solitary  nook,  where,  taking  their  psalm-books 
from  their  bosoms,  they  would  unite  in  prayer.  Whole 
families  were  wont  to  traverse  long  distances  to  attend 
these  meetings.  Departing  in  the  evening,  they  would 
travel  all  night,  and  at  the  entrance  of  villages  the  men 
would  take  oif  their  shoes  and  walk  barefoot,  so  that  the 
sound  of  their  steps  might  not  betray  them  ;  the  feet  of 
the  mules  or  horses,  on  which  the  women  and  children 
rode,  were  covered  with  linen,  for  the  same  purpose,  and 
thus  the  pious  procession  would  reach  the  secret  place  of 
prayer.  Sometimes  the  gendarmerie,  then  called  the 
marechaussee,  would  suddenly  come  upon  the  assembled 
worshippers,  and  in  the  name  of  the  king,  arrest  the 
pastor  ;  but  the  assemblies  of  the  desert,  dispersed  at  one 
point,  would  rally  at  another.  Where  copies  of  the  Bible 
had,  by  incessant  seizures,  beconic  too  few  to  supply  the 
wants  of  each,  societies  of  young  persons  were  formed, 
for  the  purpose  of  learning  the  Scriptures  by  heart,  and 
thus  preserving  it,  in  their  memory  at  least,  from  the 
menaced  confiscation.  Each  member  of  these  societies 
was  entrusted  to  retain  exactly  in  his  memory  a  certain 
number  of  chapters  ;  and  when  the  assembly  of  the  desert 
assembled,  these  new  Levites,  standing  beside  the  minister, 
in  face  of  the  faithful,  would  supply  the  reading  of 
the  interdicted  volume,  by  successively  reciting,  each  in 


BARCELONNETTE,    FRAYSSINIERES,  ETC.         G5 

his  turn,  all  the  chapters  of  the  book  indicated  by  the 
pastor,  for  the  common  edification.  Descendants  of  these 
glorious  men,  -sYho  thus  aided  to  preserve  the  protestant 
church  in  France  through  periods  of  storm,  still  subsist  at 
Frayssinieres,  at  Vars,  at  Dormilhouse,  Arvieux,  Molines, 
and  St.  Veran.  A  recent  apostolate,  worthy  of  represent- 
insr  the  ancient  Waldensian  fervour,  has  connected  with 
these  districts  the  name  of  Felix  Neff. 


CljaptEr  itntni^. 


THE  WALDENSES  IN  PROVENCE. 

Several  colonies  of  the  Waldenses  established  them- 
selves in  Provence  towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  For  awhile  adhering  to  a  close  reserve  in  their 
religious  worship,  and  punctually  paying  all  taxes,  tithes, 
and  siegneurial  dues,  they  were  not  interfered  with  by  the 
Romanists  ;  but  the  German  reformers  having  reproached 
them  with  cowardice  and  dissimulation  in  not  more  openly 
manifesting  their  faith,  they  ceased  to  practice  their 
■worship  in  private  only.  Forthwith  the  inquisitors  were  let 
loose  upon  them,  and  one  of  these,  John  di  Roma,  was 
so  excessive  in  his  cruelties  and  spoliations,  during  the  ten 
years  he  acted  in  these  valleys,  that  the  king  had  him 
imprisoned.  The  persecutions,  which  he  had  commenced, 
were,  however,  none  the  less  continued.  In  1534,  the 
bishops  of  Sisteron,  Apt,  Cavaillon,  and  other  sees,  each 
in  his  diocese,  sought  out  the  Waldensians,  and  filled  the 
prisons  with  them.  Having  ascertained  that  these  heretics 
Avere  natives  of  Piedmont,  information  was  transmitted  of 
their  apprehension  to  the  archbishop  of  Turin ;  and  a 
commissioner,  appointed  by  him,  wrote  to  the  authorities 
in  Provence,  directing  that  proceedings  should  be  sus- 
pended until  full  inquiry  had  been  made  by  him.  The 
bishop  of  Cavaillon,  however,  on  the  29th  of  March,  1535, 
informed  him  that  thirteen  of  these  prisoners  had  been 
(GG) 


IN    PROVENCE.  67 

already  burned  to  death.  Others,  he  said,  had  died  in 
prison.  Thus  the  intervention  of  the  commissioner  was 
futile  against  the  vehement  zeal  of  these  persecuting' 
prelates. 

Clement  VIII.,  a  year  before  his  death,  promised 
plenary  indulgence  to  every  Waldensian  in  the  French 
territories  who  would  enter  within  the  pale  of  popery  : 
not  one  of  them  accepted  the  offer.  Thereupon  the  pope 
complained  to  the  king  of  France,  who  wrote  to  the  par- 
liament of  Aix  ;  and  the  parliament  ordered  the  seigneurs 
of  the  lands  occupied  by  the  Waldensians,  to  compel  their 
vassals  either  to  abjure  or  to  quit  the  country.  Upon 
their  refusal,  an  attempt  was  made  to  conquer  them  by 
intimidation.  Some  of  them  were  cited  to  appear  before 
the  court  of  Aix,  to  explain  the  causes  of  their  disobedi- 
ence :  they  did  not  attend,  and,  in  default,  the  court  con- 
demned them  to  be  burne-d  alive.  Their  brethren  there- 
upon took  up  arms,  and  delivered  the  prisoners.  The 
authorities  took  up  arms,  and  a  civil  war  seemed  inevitable. 
The  case  was  laid  before  the  king,  Francis  I. ;  and  he, 
thinking  to  pacify  all  parties,  published  in  July,  1535,  a 
general  amnesty,  on  the  condition  that  the  heretics  should 
abjure  within  the  space  of  six  months. 

The  six  months  passed  away,  and  there  was  no  abjura- 
tion :  thereupon  every  seigneur  and  magistrate  of  these 
districts  assumed  the  right  of  exacting  abjuration,  or  of 
inflicting  punishment  on  the  recusant,  by  means  of  con- 
fiscation and  imprisonment.  Many  of  the  siegneurs  used 
largely  this  new  mode  of  enriching  themselves.  Menier 
d'Oppede  grievously  abused  it.  The  descendant  of  a 
Jewish  family,  poor,  of  evil  reputation,  and  remorseless  in 
soul,  he  took  advantage  of  this  crusade  against  the  faithful : 
collectin^r  a  force  of  armed  men,  he  would  issue  forth,  seize 


QS  T  11  E    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S 

upon  some  Waldensian  farmer,  and  command  him  to  in- 
voke the  saints.  "  There  is  but  one  Mediator  between 
God  and  man,"  would  the  Waldensian  reply;  "and  that 
is  he  who  is  himself  both  God  and  man,  even  Christ." 
The  heretic  would  then  be  dragged  to  the  caverns  beneath 
the  chateau  d'Oppede,  and  there  remain  until  he  paid  a 
heavy  ransom,  or  till  death  released  him,  in  which  case  his 
captor  confiscated  all  his  property  to  his  own  use. 

These  revolting  depredations  especially  disgraced  the 
year  1536.  In  the  following  year,  the  attorney -general  of 
the  parliament  of  Provence,  at  the  instance  of  the  fanatic 
clergy,  and  of  greedy  spoliators,  drew  up  a  report,  setting 
forth  that  the  Waldensians  were  daily  increasing.  Upon 
this  report  the  king  commanded  the  court  to  suppress  the 
rebels ;  in  June,  1539,  he  further  enjoined  it  to  take 
cognizance  of  heresy,  and  in  the  following  October  the 
court  ordered  the  seizure  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-four 
persons,  denounced  as  heretics  by  two  apostates. 

In  the  excessive  fermentation  to  which  such  measures 
naturally  gave  rise,  a  mere  spark  would  light  up  a  flame  ; 
and  this  happened  in  the  following  manner. 

The  Judge  of  Apt,  taking  a  fancy  to  a  mill  there, 
denounced  the  miller,  Pellenc,  as  a  heretic  ;  Pellenc  was 
burned  alive,  and  his  mill  confiscated  to  the  profit  of  the 
denouncer.  Some  young  people  of  Merindol,  whose  Pro- 
vencal veins  still  boiled  with  Italian  blood,  could  not 
restrain  their  indignation  at  such  iniquity,  and  in  their 
ignorance  or  their  despair  of  legal  forms,  they  executed 
justice  for  themselves  ;  the}^  went  by  night,  and  destroyed 
the  mill,  so  unrighteously  possessed,  at  the  price  of  their 
brother's  blood,  by  his  murderer.  The  judge  made  his 
complaint  to  the  court  of  Aix,  and  named  the  persons 
whom  he  suspected  to  have  taken  part  in  this  violence. 


IN    PROVENCE.  QQ 

The  court,  though  it  was  vacation  time  (July,  1540),  held 
an  extraordinary  sitting,  and  decreed  the  arrest  of  eighteen 
persons. 

The  officer  appointed  to  effect  the  arrest  proceeded  to 
Merindol ;  he  found  the  houses  all  empty.  "  Where  are 
the  inhabitants  of  this  village?"  he  asked,  of  a  mendicant 
whom  he  met  on  the  way.  "  They  have  fled  to  the  woods, 
for  they  heard  that  the  troops  of  the  count  de  Teuda  were 
going  to  kill  them."  "  Go  seek  them,"  said  the  officer, 
"  and  tell  them  they  shall  receive  no  harm."  A  few 
Waldensians  made  their  appearance,  and  the  officer  served 
the  summons  upon  these,  ordering  them  to  appear  before 
the  court  in  two  months. 

On  the  2d  of  September  they  assembled  together,  and 
addressed  to  the  court  a  memorial  protesting  their  submis- 
siveness  to  its  orders,  and  their  fidelity  to  the  king  ;  and 
supplicating  the  court  not  to  be  influenced  by  their  enemies, 
who  had  already  misled  it,  since,  in  the  summons  which 
they  were  directed  to  obey,  there  were  the  names  of  some 
persons  Avho  were  dead,  of  others  who  had  never  existed  at 
all,  and  of  infants  who  could  not  yet  walk.  The  court, 
irritated  at  having  its  blunders  pointed  out  by  these  simple 
mountaineers,  replied  that  the  living  should  appear  before 
it  without  troubling  their  heads  about  the  dead.  The 
Waldensians  consulted  an  advocate  as  to  what  course  they 
should  pursue.  "  If  you  desire  to  be  burned  alive,"  was 
the  answer,  "you  will  go  before  the  court."  They  did  not 
go  before  it,  and,  accordingly,  upon  the  18th  of  November, 
1540,  the  court  of  Aix  pronounced  against  them  an  incon- 
ceivable judgment,  condemning  to  the  stake  twenty-three 
persons,  seventeen  out  of  whom  were  named,  delivering  up 
their  wives  and  children  to  any  one  who  could  seize  them, 
forbidding  all  persons  to  aid  them  in  any  way,  and  order- 


70  THE    WALDENSES 

ing  Merindol,  as  a  place  notorious  for  heresy,  to  be  burned 
to  the  ground,  and  utterly  destroyed. 

This  decree  aroused  general  indignation,  not  only  in  the 
populace,  but  in  the  generous  hearts  among  the  nobility 
and  the  advocates.  The  young  count  d'Allenc,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  members  of  the  Arlesian  nobility,  waited 
upon  the  president  Chassanee,  made  an  appeal  to  his  justice 
and  humanity,  and  obtained  a  respite,  during  which  the 
court,  itself  alarmed  at  the  decree  it  had  pronounced, 
referred  the  matter  to  the  king,  who  directed  Dubellay,  to 
proceed  to  Provence,  and  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the 
Waldenses. 

Upon  the  report  of  this  nobleman  that  the  Waldenses 
were  retired  and  quiet  people,  reserved  in  their  manners, 
chaste  and  sober  in  their  lives,  and  laborious  in  their  habits, 
but  that  they  did  not  attend  the  mass,  the  monarch,  by  a 
letter  dated  the  18th  of  February,  1541,  proclaimed  a 
general  amnesty,  pardoning  all  the  condemned  on  condition 
of  their  abjuring  their  errors  of  doctrine  within  three 
months.  This  amnesty  was  not  published  by  the  court  of 
Aix  till  the  middle  of  May,  when  there  only  remained  two 
weeks  of  the  stipulated  time  unexpired  ;  but  had  there 
been  but  one  moment,  they  would  never  have  sought  to 
save  their  mortal  life,  at  the  expense  of  their  immortal  soul, 
by  abjuring  the  truth.  On  the  contrary,  they  proclaimed 
more  emphatically  than  ever  their  persecuted  doctrines, 
in  a  confession  of  faith,  dated  6th  of  April,  1541,  which 
they  transmitted  to  Francis  I.,  and  which  the  sire  de 
Castelnau  read  to  him.  Each  point  of  doctrine  was 
supported  by  texts  of  scripture.  "  Well,  what  have  our 
people  got  to  say  in  reply  to  that  ?"  asked  the  monarch, 
from  time  to  time.  But  his  fickle  and  superficial  mind  soon 
forgot  the  impression  thus  made  upon  him. 


IN    PROVENCE.  *jl 

The  illustrious  and  learned  Sadolet,  whose  features 
Raffaelle  has  transmitted  to  us  in  a  celebrated  picture, 
heard  of  this  confession  of  faith,  and  requested  to  be 
furnished  with  a  copy  of  it.  He  was  at  this  time  bishop 
of  Carpentras,  and  it  was  with  him  the  Waldenses  of 
Cabrieres  first  appeared  on  the  stage ;  for,  being  inhabi- 
tants of  his  diocese,  it  was  they  who  laid  before  him  a 
copy  of  the  common  confession.  "We  consent,"  said 
they,  "  not  only  to  abjure,  but  to  submit  to  the  severest 
penalties,  if  it  can  be  shown  to  us,  out  of  the  holy  scrip- 
tures, that  our  doctrines  are  erroneous." 

The  cardinal  replied  to  them  with  kindness,  admitted 
that  they  had  been  the  victims  of  black  calumnies  and 
false  criminations,  requested  them  to  come  and  confer  with 
him,  and  sought  to  make  them  perceive  that,  without 
departing  from  the  spirit  of  their  confession,  they  might 
modify  its  letter.  He  took  no  pains,  indeed,  to  prevent 
their  perceiving  that  he  himself  desired  a  reform  in 
Catholicism.  Had  the  Waldenses  encountered  only  such 
examiners  as  he,  blood  would  not  have  flown  !  He  wrote 
to  the  pope  to  express  his  surprise  that  the  Waldenses 
were  persecuted,  while  the  Jews  were  spared ;  but  the 
poor  folk  soon  lost  his  protection,  for  he  was  recalled  to 
Rome,  and  thus,  removed  from  his  observation,  the  Wal- 
denses remained  alone  in  face  of  their  persecutors. 

The  term  of  the  amnesty  indicated  by  the  royal  letter 
having  arrived,  the  court  of  Aix  ordered  the  Waldenses 
to  send  ten  representatives,  to  declare  whether  they 
intended  to  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  to  conform.  One 
representative  alone  appeared,  named  Estene.  "  We 
consent  to  abjure,"  he  repeated,  "if  our  errors  can  be 
demonstrated." 

The    cardinal    de  Tournon,  excited  a^^ainst   the   Wa,I- 


72  THE    WALDENSES 

denses  by  the  legate  of  the  papal  see,  sent  word  to  the 
king  that  the  clergy  had  rejected  the  confession  of  faith 
which  the  sectaries  had  laid  before  him,  whereupon  the 
governor  of  the  province  was  ordered  to  clear  it  of  heresy. 
The  bishop  of  Cavailln,  deputed  by  the  court  of  Aix, 
visited  Merindol  to  inquire  into  the  religious  views  of  the 
Waldenses.  On  reaching  the  village,  he  summoned  the 
principal  inhabitants  before  him,  and  rejecting  all  question 
between  them  of  doctrine,  required  them  at  once  "  to 
abjure  their  errors  ;"  intimating  that  all  he  desired  was  a 
mere  formality  on  their  part,  after  which  they  would  be 
left  at  peace,  and  at  full  liberty  to  place  what  interpreta- 
tion they  pleased  on  their  abjuration.  But  the  Waldenses 
were  not  Jesuits ;  they  frankly  refused  compliance,  and 
the  bishop  withdrew. 

On  the  4th  April,  1542,  he  returned,  and  was  equally 
unsuccessful.  Two  years  then  passed  away,  in  suspense  on 
the  one  hand,  in  hesitation  to  act  on  the  other,  and  then 
Francis  I.,  on  14th  June,  1544,  on  the  plaint  of  the 
Waldenses  of  Cabrieres,  issued  an  edict  suspending  all 
proceedings  against  the  Waldenses,  restoring  them  to  their 
social  privileges,  and  releasing  such  of' them  as  were  in 
prison.  The  court  of  Aix,  before  publishing  this  edict, 
sent  one  of  its  officers  to  Paris,  to  procure,  if  possible,  its 
revocation.  On  the  1st  January,  1545,  letters  of  revoca- 
tion were,  in  the  privy  council,  placed  before  the  king  for 
signature,  and  he  signed  them  without  reading  them,  or 
being  at  all  aware  of  their  purport.  They  were,  however, 
effective  for  the  purpose,  and  that  purpose  was  the  execu- 
tion of  the  decree  of  the  18th  November,  1540,  and  the 
destruction  by  fire  and  sword,  not  simply  of  the  twenty 
inhabitants  of  Merindol,  contemplated  by  the  decree,  but 
of  the  entire  population  of  seventeen  villages.  The  instant 


IN    PROVENCE.  73 

that  this  sanguinary  order  had  been  thus  fraudulently 
obtained,  it  was  despatched  by  especial  courier  to  Oppede, 
the  president  of  the  court  of  Aix,  who,  as  instantly  upon 
its  receipt,  sent  instructions  to  the  governor  of  Provence, 
to  assemble  troops  for  its  prompt  execution.  No  notice 
was  given  to  the  doomed  people,  lest  they  should  make 
their  plaint  before  their  sovereign,  and  thus  lay  bare  the 
fraud  of  which  he  was  the  dupe  and  they  were  to  be  the 
victims.  The  soldiers  were  quietly  collected,  and  they 
only  aAvaited  the  arrival  of  captain  Poulain,  who  was 
shortly  expected  from  Piedmont. 

He  came  on  the  7th  April.  Between  the  7th  and  the 
11th  all  the  preparations  were  completed  for  carrying  into 
effect  this  retroactive  sentence.  The  12th  was  a  Sunday, 
but  nevertheless  the  court  assembled  at  the  summons  of 
Oppede. 

The  inhabitants  of  Lourmarin  were  ordered  to  prepare 
billets  for  a  thousand  foot  and  three  hundred  horse.  The 
inhabitants  replied  by  taking  up  arms.  The  order  was 
repeated ;  they  required  a  delay  of  twelve  hours  for 
reflection.  "  Subjects  do  not  make  terms  with  their 
sovereign,"  was  tlie  rejoinder.  The  chatelaine  of  Lour- 
marin, Blanche  de  Levis,  came  herself  to  intercede  for  her 
people,  but  she  was  not  listened  to.  All  in  tears,  she  then 
addressed  her  vassals,  and  entreated  them  to  avoid  certain 
destruction,  by  laying  down  their  arms.  "  Our  destruction 
would  only  be  the  more  certain  and  the  more  prompt,  were 
we  to  lay  them  down,"  was  the  reply.  "But  let  us  depart 
quietly,  and  we  will  abandon  our  goods  to  those  who  seek 
them  by  our  death." 

The  poor  chatelaine,  however,  could  do  nothing.     The 
dame  de  Cental  also  wrote  to  Oppede,  entreating  him  to 
7 


74  TIIEAVALDENSES 

spare  her  vassals.  But  already  the  troops,  spread  over  the 
country,  had  begun  to  pillage  and  destroy. 

Oppede  began  by  setting  fire  to  the  houses  in  La 
Roque,  Ville-Laure,  and  Trezemines,  which  had  been  aban- 
doned by  the  Waldenses ;  he  did  the  same  at  Lourmarin, 
where  a  hundred  and  fourteen  houses  were  destroyed. 

On  the  18th  of  April,  the  combined  troops  appeared 
before  Merindol ;  the  inhabitants  had  retired,  but  a  young 
man,  named  Maurice  Blanc,  who  had  been  late  in  the 
fields,  was  seized  by  the  pillagers.  They  tied  him  to  an 
olive  tree,  and  the  soldiers,  converting  him  into  a  mark  for 
their  arquebuses,  fired  at  him  from  a  distance.  The  fifth 
bullet  terminated  his  sufi'erings. 

They  then  set  fire  to  the  village,  which  was  entirely 
consumed.  Some  women  having  been  surprised  in  the 
church,  they  were  stripped  naked,  subjected  to  indescrib- 
able outrages,  and  then  compelled  to  hold  each  other  by 
the  hand,  as  in  a  dance,  were  urged,  at  the  pike's  point,  up 
the  castle-rock,  whence,  already  severely  wounded  and 
suffering,  they  were  precipitated,  one  after  the  other,  into 
the  abyss  beneath.  Elsewhere  many  were  taken  and  sold. 
One  father  had  to  travel  to  Marseilles  to  ransom  his 
daughter.  A  young  mother,  endeavouring  to  escape  across 
the  fields,  with  her  infant  in  her  arms,  was  overtaken  and 
outraged  by  these  ruffians,  pressing  all  the  while  her 
nursling  to  her  bosom. 

An  aged  woman  at  Lauris,  between  Cabrieres  and 
Avignon,  whose  years  saved  her  from  this  particular 
brutality,  became  in  their  hands  an  object  of  insult  to 
humanity  and  to  their  own  religion.  They  cut  her  hair  in 
the  shape  of  a  cross,  and  having  covered  this  tonsure  with 
some  tinsel,  they  led  her  through  the  streets,  singing 
psalms  derisively,   in  imitation  of  a  procession  of  priests. 


IN    PROVENCE.  75 

Coming,  at  length,  to  a  large  oven,  which  was  heated  to 
bake  a  quantity  of  bread  for  themselves,  the  soldiers 
pushed  their  victim  to  the  opening  with  their  pikes,  crying, 
"Enter  there,  you  old  devil!"  The  poor  creature, 
exhausted  with  her  sufferings,  was  about  to  enter  without 
resistance,  but  the  soldiers  who  had  prepared  the  oven 
would  not  permit  this  use  to  be  made  of  it. 

Signalizing  its  march  by  a  thousand  similar  brutalities, 
under  the  most  various  and  most  revolting  forms,  the  army 
reached  Cabrieres.  This  fortified  town,  being  within  the 
pope's  territory,  could  not  have  been  touched  without  the 
consent  of  the  pontiff,  but  the  vice-legate  Mormoiran  had 
furnished  Oppede  with  full  power  to  act  as  he  should  think 
fit.  The  army  came  to  the  town  on  the  19th  of  April, 
and  though  this  was  the  Sabbath,  at  once  commenced  batter- 
ing the  walls.  The  Waldenses  within,  occupied  in  prayer, 
gave  no  indication  of  submission,  and  the  firing  continued 
all  day  and  all  night.  On  Monday  morning  it  was  stayed, 
and  Oppede  wrote  to  the  besieged,  that  if  they  would  open 
the  gates  of  the  town,  they  should  receive  no  harm.  The 
first  troops  which  entered  were  those  from  Piedmont, 
trained  and  hardy  warriors,  who  were  to  have  begun  the 
carnage  ;  but,  knowing  the  stipulations  of  the  surrender, 
the  soldiers  declared  that  their  honour  was  concerned  in 
its  observance.  Meantime,  Oppede  sent  for  the  principal 
men  of  the  place,  who  came  without  distrust.  They  were 
eighteen  in  number  ;  their  hands  were  tied,  and  they  were 
passed  among  the  troops,  to  which  they  made  no  objection, 
thinking  they  were  merely  there  as  hostages  for  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  rest  of  the  population.  But  as  they  were 
traversing  the  ranks  of  the  Provengal  troops,  commanded 
by  Oppede,  the  son-in-law  of  this  man,  named  de  Pour- 
rieres,  cut  with  his  sabre  the  bald  head  of  an  old  man,  whose 


76  THEWALDENSES 

faltering  steps  had  accidentally  approached  too  near  the 
officer's  feet. 

"  Kill  them  all,"  cried  Oppede,  when  he  saw  the  old  man 
fall;  and  instantly  the  cowardly  and  frantic  troops  whom 
he  so  fitly  commanded,  butchered  the  unhappy  hostages, 
whose  quivering  limbs,  as  they  lay  in  recent  death,  the 
same  de  Pourrieres  and  the  sire  de  Faulcon  savagely  muti- 
lated. The  heads  of  the  murdered  men  were  raised  on 
pikes,  and  the  soldiers  being  thus  excited,  the  signal  for 
general  massacre  was  given.  A  number  of  women,  shut  up 
in  a  barn,  to  which  fire  was  applied,  sought  to  save  them- 
selves from  the  flames  by  leaping  from  the  walls ;  they 
were  received  on  the  points  of  pikes  and  swords.  Others 
had  retired  to  the  castle.  "Death!  blood!"  exclaimed 
Oppede,  as  he  pointed  out  to  his  soldiers  the  path  to  the 
asylum  of  the  victims. 

But  the  most  horrible  scene  took  place  in  the  church. 
Hither  the  great  majority  of  the  women  had  repaired  for 
refuge :  the  soldiers  seized  them,  stripped  them  naked, 
outraged  them  in  the  most  brutal  manner,  and  then  threw 
some  of  them  from  the  tower  to  the  ground,  while  others, 
after  being  dragged  forth  to  glut  the  ruffianism  of  other 
soldiers  who  came  up,  were  finally  despatched  by  being 
eventerated.  The  horrors  perpetrated  on  this,  and  on 
many  similar  occasions,  were  such  as  it  is  impossible  to 
describe.  The  abb^  Guerin,  who  was  present  at  this 
massacre,  states  in  his  deposition  that  in  the  church  alone 
"four  or  five  hundred  poor  women  and  girls  were  outraged 
and  slain." 

The  prisoners  who  were  not  put  to  death,  were  sold  by 
the  soldiers  as  galley-slaves.  The  vice-legate,  indeed, 
acting  in  the  true  spirit  of  popery,  refused  to  grant  any 
quarter  whatever.     Having  ascertained   that  twenty-five 


IX    PROVENCE.  77 

women,  most  of  them  mothers  of  families,  had  concealed 
themselves  in  a  grotto  near  Mys,  he  ordered  a  party  of 
soldiers  thither  to  exterminate  them,  though  the  place  -was 
not  within  the  papal  territory.  On  reaching  the  mouth  of 
the  grotto,  a  discharge  of  musketry  was  directed  within ; 
no  one  came  forth,  fuel  was  piled  up  inside,  and  a  large  fire 
lighted,  and  all  these  living  creatures  of  God  perished  in 
the  flames  and  the  smoke.  In  this  extermination,  there 
were  burned  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three  houses,  ninty- 
nine  stables,  and  thirty-one  barns.  The  number  of  persons 
slaughtered  was  upwards  of  three  thousand. 

While  still  at  Cabrieres,  Oppede  received  a  message  from 
the  lord  of  the  town  of  La  Costa,  entreating  him  to  spare 
his  vassals.  This  was  on  the  Monday  evening.  "Let 
them  make  four  breaches  in  their  walls,"  replied  Oppede, 
"and  we  will  see."  On  the  Tuesday  morning  these 
breaches  were  commenced,  but  when  the  inhabitants  saw 
Oppede's  troops  advancing  as  to  an  assault,  they  hastily 
filled  up  the  breaches  they  had  made,  and  closed  the  gates. 
The  troops  were  fain  to  content  themselves  that  day  with 
destroying  the  gardens  of  the  castle,  which  stood  outside 
the  town  ;  the  next  morning,  22d  of  April,  Oppede  wrote 
to  the  syndics  of  La  Costa,  undertaking  that  if  the  gates 
were  thrown  open,  the  inhabitants  should  receive  full  pro- 
tection and  justice ;  the  gates  were  opened  on  the  faith  of 
this  promise,  and  the  furious  soldiers  rushing  in,  at  once 
proceeded  to  the  work  of  massacre,  outrage,  and  destruc- 
tion. There  was  a  small  warren  behind  the  castle  ;  hither 
the  soldiers  dragged  their  female  captives  to  dishonour, 
before  they  slew  them.  One  mother,  after  in  vain  seeking 
to  defend  her  daughter  from  the  brutal  ravisher,  stabbed 
herself,  and  then  drawing  the  ensanguined  knife  from  her 


78  TIIEWALDENSES. 

•wound,  gave  it  to  her  child,  as  the  last  resource  from 
dishonour. 

An  inquiry  into  these  atrocities  was  instituted  in  Sep- 
tember, 1551,  by  order  of  Henry  II.,  who  desired  to  free 
his  father's  memory  from  this  stain  of  blood  ;  the  fraud 
by  which  the  revocation  of  the  king's  pardon  had  been 
effected  was  laid  bare,  but  though  the  advocate,  Guerin, 
was  punished  with  death,  the  great  criminal,  Oppede,  not 
only  escaped,  but  returned  triumphant  to  Provence,  where 
he  was  welcomed  by  the  clergy,  who  had  blasphemously 
offered  up  public  prayers  and  Te  Deums  in  the  churches, 
"  for  the  safety  and  speedy  return  of  this  illustrious 
defender  of  the  faith." 

The  few  Waldenses  who  had  escaped  death,  retired  for 
a  while  to  the  valleys  of  Piedmont. 


Ctni|.itn  cBig[rt[i. 


THE    "WALDENSES    IN    CALABRIA. 

The  first  migration  of  the  Waldenses  of  Piedmont  from 
their  own  valleys,  to  the  richer  land  of  Calabria,  took  place 
in  1340.  By  a  convention  with  the  local  seigneurs,  ratified 
later  by  the  king  of  Naples,  Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  they 
were  permitted  to  govern  their  own  affairs,  civil  and  spiritual, 
by  their  own  magistrates  and  their  own  pastors.  Their  first 
colony  was  near  the  town  of  Montalto.  A  half  century 
later,  rose  the  town  of  San  Xisto,  which  afterwards  becaaie 
the  capital  of  the  colony ;  other  towns  and  villages  of 
theirs  were  named  Vacaresso,  L'Arguelena,  San  Vincenzo, 
Le  Rosse,  contributing  to  create  prosperity  in  a  district 
that  was  previously  well  nigh  desolate. 

The  marquis  di  Spinello,  struck  with  the  ameliorations 
effected  by  these  industrious  and  upright  men  in  the  terri- 
tories which  had  been  ceded  to  them,  invited  a  number  of 
their  body  into  his  own  states,  gave  them  lands,  aided  them 
to  build  a  town,  and  authorized  them  to  surround  this  town 
with  a  wall,  whence  it  derived  the  name  of  La  Guardia. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  another 
migration  of  Waldenses  took  place,  from  Provence  into 
Italy ;  these  new  colonists  settling  in  Apulia,  not  far  from 
their  Calabrian  brethren,  built  their  several  walled  towns, 
which  they  named  after  those  whence  they  had  come: 
La  Cellare,  Paet,  La  Motte.  Again,  in  1500,  other 
Waldenses   from  Frayssinieres  and  Pragela,   established 

(79) 


80  THEWALDENSES 

themselves  in  Calabria,  on  the  small  river  Vollurate,  which 
runs  from  the  Apennines  into  the  Bay  of  Tarento,  whence 
they,  and  new  comers,  spread  over  other  portions  of  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  even  to  Sicily.  Agriculture  and  the 
sciences  flourished  among  them.  Baarlam  of  Calabria,  of 
whom  Petrarch  was  a  disciple,  was  himself  a  disciple  of 
the  AValdenses.  The  missionary  pastors,  whom  the  synod 
at  home  sent  amongst  these  colonists,  remained  with  them, 
two  at  a  time,  for  the  space  of  two  years,  and  were  then 
replaced  by  others,  themselves  visiting  on  their  return  to 
their  villages  all  the  chief  towns  of  Italy,  in  each  of  which 
they  had  brethren,  more  or  less  numerous.  The  Wal- 
densian  historian,  Gilles,  relates  that  his  grandfather,  on, 
one  of  these  pastoral  visitations  to  Venice,  was  assured  by 
the  faithful,  when  he  conversed  with  them,  that  the  city 
contained  no  fewer  than  six  thousand  members  of  that 
body. 

Until  1558,  the  Waldenses  of  Calabria  remained  unmo- 
lested in  their  modest  and  tranquil  retirement.  In  that 
year,  having  applied  to  the  synod  for  the  appointment 
amongst  them  of  a  permanent  pastor,  the  application  was 
granted,  and  there  was  nominated  to  the  honourable,  but 
perilous  post,  a  young  Piedmontese,  a  native  of  Conio, 
named  John  Louis  Paschale,  who,  having  quitted  the  career 
of  arms  to  become  a  soldier  of  Christ,  had  prepared 
himself  for  the  ministry  by  studies  recently  completed  at 
Lausanne. 

Paschale  departed,  accompanied  by  another  pastor, 
Jacob  Boveto,  also  a  Piedmontese,  and  who  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom at  Messina,  in  1560. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  Calabria,  Paschale  began  zealously 
to  preach  the  gospel  as  publicly  as  it  was  preached  at 
Geneva.     Thereupon,  there  arose  a  report  that  a  Lutheran 


IN    CALABRIA.  81 

had  come,  who  was  about  to  destroy  everything  with  his 
doctrines  ;  the  ignorant  murmured,  and  the  fanatics  voci- 
ferated that  he  must  be  exterminated  with  all  his  adherents. 
The  marquis  Salvator-Spinello,  suzerain  of  the  Waldenses, 
who  was  then  at  Foscalda,  a  small  town  near  La  Guardia, 
sent  word  that  some  of  their  body  must  appear  before  him 
and  explain  their  new  proceedings  ;  and,  accordingly,  a 
body  of  them,  headed  by  Paschale,  waited  upon  the 
marquis.  This  was  in  July,  1559.  But  the  zealous  young 
pastor  had  not  to  combat,  as  he  had  expected,  honest  errors, 
in  a  fair  controversy,  with  evangelical  texts  and  arguments. 
His  enemies  sought,  not  the  truth,  but  silence ;  and, 
accordingly,  after  listening  to  Paschale  for  a  few  moments, 
the  marquis,  finding  that  submission  was  not  to  be  expected 
from  the  Waldenses,  dismissed  the  flock  with  a  menace, 
and  placed  Paschale,  and  a  fellow  pastor,  Marco  Ascegli, 
who  had  accompanied  him,  in  the  dungeons  of  Foscalda. 
Hence,  after  an  imprisonment  of  eight  months,  they  were, 
on  the  7th  of  February,  15G0,  transferred  to  the  dungeons 
of  Cosenza,  where  Ascegli,  after  being  subjected  to  the 
torture,  was  burned  to  death. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  Paschale  was  removed  from  the 
castle  of  Cosenza,  and  in  company  with  twenty -two 
prisoners,  condemned  to  the  galleys,  conveyed,  under 
circumstances  of  great  cruelty,  to  Naples,  which  th.ey 
reached  on  the  23d  of  April.  On  the  16th  of  May,  he  was 
taken  in  chains  to  Rome,  and  imprisoned  in  the  Torre  di 
Nona,  in  a  deep,  dark,  damp  dungeon,  without  the  least 
furniture,  or  even  straw  to  lie  on,  and  where  his  arms  were 
bound  so  tightly  with  small  cords  that  they  entered  the 
flesh. 

For  three  days  several  members  of  the  holy  office  were 
engaged  during  four  hours  each  day,  in  argument  with 


82  THEWALDENSES 

Paschale,  endeavouring  to  bring  him  to  retract,  but  in 
vain ;  and  on  the  8th  of  September,  1560,  he  was  con- 
ducted to  the  Convent  della  Minerva,  to  hear  his  condem- 
nation pronounced.  On  the  following  morning  he  was 
taken  to  the  square  in  front  of  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
and  there,  in  the  presence  of  pope  Pius  IV.,  was  strangled, 
his  body  burned,  and  his  ashes  thrown  into  the  Tiber. 

The  attention  of  the  holy  office  having  been  thus  called 
to  the  Waldenses  of  Calabria,  cardinal  Alexandrini  was 
despatched  to  San  Xisto,  in  company  with  two  Dominican 
monks.  These  wolves  in  sheeps'  clothing,  assuming  extreme 
mildness  of  demeanour,  assembled  the  inhabitants,  assured 
them  that  no  harm  was  designed  against  them,  and  that 
if  they  would  merely  consent  to  hear  no  other  preachers 
than  those  sent  them  by  the  Romish  bishop,  and  dismiss 
the  Lutheran  pastors  who  were  misleading  them,  they  had 
nothing  to  fear.  They  then,  in  order  to  ascertain  how 
many  persons  observed  the  practices  of  the  Romish  church, 
had  the  bell  rung  for  mass,  and  invited  the  people  to  attend. 
Not  one  attended ;  on  the  contrary,  the  entire  population 
of  the  town,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  young  children 
and  aged  persons,  quitted  the  place,  and  withdrew  to  an 
adjacent  wood.  The  popish  commissioners,  repressing 
their  anger,  performed  mass,  and  then  proceeded  to  La 
Guardia.  Here,  having  had  the  gates  closed,  they  assem- 
bled the  people  :  "Dear  and  faithful  friends,"  said  they, 
"  your  brethren  of  San  Xisto  have  abjured  their  errors  and 
attended  mass ;  we  invite  you  to  follow  this  prudent 
example,  or  we  shall  be  compelled,  much  to  our  regret,  to 
condemn  you  to  death."  The  alarmed  population,  after 
some  hesitation,  consented  to  hear  mass  ;  and  after  the 
performance  of  this  ceremony  the  gates  were  opened. 
When,  however,  some  of  the  people  of  San  Xisto  came  and 


IX    CALABRIA.  83 

revealed  the  truth,  the  population  of  La  Guardia,  indignant 
at  the  deceit  -vv'hich  had  been  practised  upon  them,  and 
ashamed  of  their  own  culpable  -weakness,  assembled  in 
the  market-place,  resolved  to  join  their  brethren  in  the 
wood,  and  were  only  dissuaded  from  doing  so  by  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  marquis  of  Spinello. 

The  grand  inquisitor  now  demanded  that  the  public  force 
should  aid  him  in  the  complete  execution  of  his  mission  ; 
and  two  companies  of  soldiers  were  accordingly  placed  at 
his  disposal.  These  he  despatched  to  the  wood  of  San 
Xisto,  to  seize  the  fugitives,  but,  instead  of  taking  them 
prisoners,  the  fanatic  troops  no  sooner  discovered  the 
unhappy  Waldenses  than  they  fell  upon  them,  killed  a 
great  number,  put  to  flight  the  rest,  and  pursued  these  like 
wild  beasts.  The  fugitives  at  lenc!;th  attained  some  high 
rocks,  where  they  entrenched  themselves,  and,  as  the 
soldiers  came  up,  hurled  upon  them  great  stones,  with  such 
effect  that  many  were  slain,  and  more  wounded,  so  that 
the  oiEcers  deemed  it  expedient  to  retreat,  and  to  commu- 
nicate the  result  to  cardinal  Alexandrini.  The  legate 
thereupon  applied  to  the  viceroy  of  Naples  for  greater 
force,  wherewith  to  suppress  this  rebellion,  as  he  called  it, 
of  the  Waldenses ;  the  viceroy  himself  marched  to  San 
Xisto,  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  and  there  denounced  fire 
and  sword  against  all  who  should  not  abjure  their  heresy. 
The  Waldenses,  on  their  part,  fortified  themselves  on  the 
mountain  tops  ;  and  their  position  became  at  length  so 
formidable,  that  the  viceroy,  not  venturing  to  attack  them 
with  the  troops  he  had  brought,  put  forth  a  proclamation 
by  which  he  offered  a  free  pardon  to  all  exiles,  outlaws, 
and  other  criminals,  who  Avould  aid  to  exterminate  the 
Waldenses. 

This  proclamation,  so  characteristic  of  popery,  had  the 


84  THE    WALDENSES 

efifect  of  collecting  together  a  multitude  of  reprobates, 
marauders  and  bandits,  many  of  whom  were  intimately 
acquainted  with  all  the  by-paths  of  the  Apennines ;  and 
by  these  the  Waldenses  in  the  mountains  were  hunted 
down  and  slaughtered,  some  dying  by  the  sword,  some  by 
fire,  some  by  famine. 

Meanwhile  the  inquisitor  and  the  monks  were  not  idle. 
By  a  foul  stratagem,  they  induced  the  surviving  population 
of  La  Guardia,  in  number  seventy  souls,  to  assemble 
together,  and,  so  assembled,  they  were  seized  by  soldiers, 
concealed  for  the  purpose,  loaded  with  chains,  and  taken 
as  prisoners  to  Montalto,  where  they  were  all  subjected  to 
the  most  cruel  tortures  by  the  inquisitor  Panza,  for  the 
purpose  of  forcing  them,  not  only  to  forswear  their  faith, 
but  to  forswear  themselves,  by  admitting  against  their 
brethren  and  their  pastors  the  pretended  abominations 
which  the  corrupt  imaginings  of  popery  had  conceived  and 
laid  to  their  charge.  To  eftect  a  confession  of  these  crimes 
from  the  agony  of  the  Waldenses,  was  a  grand  object  with 
the  inquisitors;  and  one  unhappy  man,  Stephano  Carlini, 
was,  to  this  purpose,  tortured  in  so  horrible  a  manner,  that 
his  bowels  gushed  forth.  Another  prisoner,  Verminello, 
having,  in  excess  of  pain  on  the  rack,  promised  to  attend 
mass,  the  inquisitor  deemed  him  a  likely  person,  under 
aggravated  torture,  to  confess  also  to  the  crimes  which  the 
church  of  Rome  so  earnestly  desired  to  bring  home  to 
the  Waldenses  ;  and  the  miserable  man  was  accordingly 
kept  for  eight  consecutive  h-ours  upon  an  instrument  of 
suffering,  aptly  calledheU;  but  he  could  not  be  brought  to 
sanction  the  atrocious  calumnies,  an  admission  of  which 
would  have  released  him  from  torture.  Bernardino  Conto 
was  covered  with  pitch,  and  burned  alive  in  the  market- 
place of  Cosenza.    Another  martyr,  Mazzone,  was  stripped 


IN    CALABRIA.  85 

naked,  his  body  shredded  with  iron  whips,  and  the  mangled 
frame  then  beaten  to  death  with  lighted  brands.  Of  this 
victim's  two  sons,  one  was  flayed  alive,  and  the  other 
hurled  from  the  summit  of  a  tower.  From  the  same  tower 
was  precipitated  another  young  man,  who,  for  his  prodi- 
gious strength,  was  sm-named  Samson.  As  his  mangled 
frame  lay,  still  breathing,  on  the  flag-stones  below,  the 
viceroy  passed.  "  What  carrion  is  this  ?"  he  asked.  "  It 
is  a  heretic,  who  will  not  die."  The  viceroy  kicked  the 
wretched  man's  head  aside.  "  Let  the  pigs  come,  then, 
and  eat  him,"  said  he  ;  and  the  barbarous  order  was 
executed,  the  prostrate  body  of  the  martyr  palpitating 
with  life  for  some  hours,  beneath  the  tearing  teeth  of 
the  unclean  brutes,  which  a  human  brute  far  more  unclean 
and  foul  than  they  had  set  to  the  work. 

Sixty  women  of  San  Xisto  had  ropes  bound  round  their 
bodies  and  limbs  so  tightly  that  wounds  were  made,  and 
these  festering,  engendered  coiTuption  tha.t  was  removed 
with  hot  lime.  Afterwards,  some  of  them  were  burned 
alive,  others  starved  to  death  in  their  dungeons,  while  the 
handsomer  among  them  were  sold  to  satisfy  the  passions  of 
the  highest  bidder.  At  Montalto,  eighty-eight  Waldensian 
prisoners  were  crowded  in  a  low,  damp  dungeon.  By 
order  of  tbe  marquis  Buccianici,  the  executioner  came, 
took  the  nearest  prisoner,  led  him  outside,  bound  a  strip 
of  linen  round  his  head,  made  him  kneel,  and  cut  his  throat. 
Then,  placing  his  knife  between  his  teeth,  and  holding  the 
ensanguined  linen  in  his  hand,  the  executioner  returned  to 
the  dungeon,  withdrew  the  next  prisoner,  and  in  like 
manner  dispatched  him ;  and  so  with  the  rest,  until  on 
that  blood-stained  ground  there  lay  the  headless  trunks  of 
eighty-eight  martyrs,  gentle  as  lambs,  and  as  lambs  slaugh- 
tered. Other  persons  were  sawed  asunder.  Others,  eighty- 
8 


86  THEWALDENSES. 

sLx  in  number,  having  been  first  flayed  alive,  had  their 
bodies  cleft  in  two,  and  the  ghastly  portions  were  stuck  on 
pikes  along  the  high  road,  for  the  length  of  thirty-six 
miles.  The  preachers  and  elders  of  the  Waldenses  were 
burned  alive,  their  bodies  being  covered  with  resin  and 
sulphur.  For  two  whole  years  did  the  fire  and  sword  of 
antichrist  devour  this  unhappy  district,  and  sixteen 
hundred  victims  gratified  with  their  blood  the  sanguinary 
thirst  of  Rome.  A  few  of  the  Waldenses  effected  their 
escape,  and  regained,  with  infinite  toil,  the  valleys  of  their 
ancestors. 


Cljiiptrr  3)lnit{j, 


HISTORY    or   VARIOUS    MARTYRS. 

There  is  no  town  in  Piedmont,  under  a  Waldensian 
pastor,  where  some  of  the  brethren  have  not  been  put  to 
death.  Jordan  Terbano  was  burned  alive  at  Suza  ;  Ilip- 
polyte  Rossiero  at  Turin  ;  Michael  Goneto,  an  octogena- 
rian, at  Sarcena  ;  Villermin  Ambrosio  hanged  on  the  Col 
di  Meano  ;  Hugo  Chiamps,  of  Fenestrelle,  had  his  entrails 
torn  from  his  living  body,  at  Turin ;  Peter  Geymarali,  of 
Bobbio,  in  like  manner,  had  his  entrails  taken  out  at 
Luserne,  and  a  fierce  cat  thrust  in  their  place  to  torture 
him  further ;  Maria  Romano  was  buried  alive  at  Rocca- 
patia;  Magdalen  Foulano  underwent  the  same  fate  at  San 
Giovanni ;  Susan  Michelini  was  bound  hand  and  foot,  and 
left  to  perish  of  cold  and  hunger  on  the  snow  at  Sarcena. 
Bartholomew  Fache,  gashed  with  sabres,  had  the  w^ounds 
filled  up  with  quick-lime,  and  perished  thus  in  agony  at 
Fenile ;  Daniel  Michelini  had  his  tongue  torn  out  at 
Bobbio,  for  having  praised  God ;  James  Baridari  perished, 
covered  with  sulphureous  matches,  which  had  been  forced 
into  his  flesh  under  the  nails,  between  the  fingers,  in  the 
nostrils,  in  the  lips,  and  over  all  his  body,  and  then 
lighted.  Daniel  Revelli  had  his  mouth  filled  with  gun- 
powder, which,  being  lighted,  blew  his  head  to  pieces. 
Maria  Monnen,  taken  at  Liousa,  had  the  flesh  cut  from 
her  cheek  and  chin  bones,  so  that  her  jaw  was  left  bare, 

(87J 


«^8  THE    WALDENSES, 

and  she  was  thus  left  to  perish.  Paul  Garnier  was  slowly 
sliced  to  pieces  at  Rora ;  Thomas  Margueti  was  mutilated 
in  an  indescribable  manner  at  Miraboco,  and  Susan  Jaquin 
cut  in  bits  at  La  Torre.  Sara  Rostagnol  was  slit  open 
from  the  legs  to  the  bosom,  and  left  so  to  perish  on  the 
road  between  Eyral  and  Luzerna ;  Anne  Charbonnier  was 
impaled,  and  carried  thus  on  a  pike,  as  a  standard,  from 
San  Giovanni  to  La  Torre.  Daniel  Rambaud,  at  Paesano, 
had  his  nails  torn  off,  then  his  fingers  chopped  off,  then  his 
feet  and  his  hands,  and  then  his  arms  and  his  legs,  Avith 
each  successive  refusal  on  his  part  to  abjure  the  gospel. 
In  March,  1536,  Martin  Gonin,  pastor  of  Angrogna,  Avas 
seized  on  his  return  from  Geneva,  at  Grenoble,  and,  after 
a  mock  trial,  taken  from  his  prison  at  night,  and  drowned 
in  the  Isere.  In  June,  1556,  Barthelemi  Hector,  of  Poi- 
tiers, was  burned  at  Turin,  for  having  sold  copies  of  the 
Bible  to  the  shepherds  of  the  Alps.  In  1555,  a  pastor  of 
Geneva,  Jean  Vernoux,  one  of  the  earliest  fellow-labourers 
Avith  Calvin,  Antoine  Laborie  Quercy,  Avho  had  quitted 
the  magistracy  in  order  to  devote  himself  more  actively  to 
the  cause  of  the  gospel,  and  three  friends  of  theirs,  Ba- 
tailles,  Tauran,  and  Tringalet,  were  on  their  Avay  to  the 
Waldensian  valleys,  seized  by  the  mardchaussee,  in  the 
gorges  of  the  Col  Tamis,  and,  after  a  lengthened  interrog- 
atory before  the  court  of  Chambery,  Avcre  all  burned  in 
one  fire. 

Among  the  leaders  Avho  had  signalized  themselves  by 
excessive  ferocity  in  the  crusade  against  the  Vaudois, 
under  Innocent  VIIL,  Avas  Captain  Varagle,  or  Varaille. 
A  son  of  this  man,  endoAved  with  remarkable  capacity,  en- 
tered into  holy  orders  in  1522,  and  took  up  his  abode  not 
far  from  the  Waldensian  valleys,  in  the  little  tOAvn  of 
Busque,  one  of  the  most  retired  in  Piedmont.     Here  his 


HISTORY    OF    VARIOUS    MARTYRS.  89 

rapid  progress  in  literature  and  theology,  and  his  eloquence 
in  the  pulpit,  attracted  the  attention  of  his  superiors. 

The  influence  of  the  Reformation  was  now  making  itself 
everywhere  felt ;  and  the  Romish  church  comprehended 
the  essential  importance  of  strengthening  its  power,  which 
the  synod  of  Angrogna  had  just  aided  to  weaken.  Young 
Geoffrey  Yaraille,  selected  to  operate  as  a  counterpoise  to 
the  impulse  of  reformation,  received  the  diiEcult  mission  to 
visit  the  principal  towns  of  Italy,  and  raise  up  the  credit 
of  the  Romish  church  by  his  eloquent  preaching.  He  was 
to  be  accompanied  by  an  Observantine  monk  of  the  convent 
of  Monte  Fiascone,  named  Matteo  Baschi,  the  founder  of 
the  Capuchin  order,  and  by  ten  members  of  the  secular 
clergy. 

These  twelve  being  assembled  together,  proceeded,  with 
a  view  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  mission,  to  examine 
for  themselves  the  arguments  of  the  reformers  ao-ainst 
Catholicism.  It  was  not  long  ere  their  enlightened  minds 
recognized  the  force  of  these  arguments  so  fully,  that, 
becoming  themselves  objects  of  suspicion  to  the  popish 
authorities,  they  were  all  imprisoned  at  Rome,  where  they 
remained  captives  for  five  years.  At  the  expiration  of 
this  period,  Varaille,  released  from  his  dungeon,  entered 
the  service  of  the  papal  legate  at  the  court  of  France,  and 
abode  with  him  at  Paris  for  a  considerable  time.  Here 
the  rays  of  the  Reformation  fell  upon  his  soul  with  still 
greater  power  than  in  Piedmont;  and  the  massacre  of  the 
Waldenses  of  Merindol  and  Cabrieres,  which  became  the 
subject  of  inquiry  before  the  court  of  peers,  so  filled  up  the 
measure  of  his  indignation  and  disgust  against  a  church 
imbrued  in  the  blood  of  the  just,  that  he  resigned  the 
high  position  he  occupied  at  Paris,  and  repaired  to  Geneva, 
to  investigate,  at  the  fountain-head,  the  new  doctrines,  as 

8* 


9Q  THEWALDENSES, 

« 

thev  were  called,  but  -which  he,  to  his  delighted  surprise, 
soon  learned  to  recognize,  on  the  contrary,  as  the  ancient, 
the  primitive  doctrines. 

Varaille  was  now  nearly  fifty  years  old,  but  faith  makes 
a  man  young  again ;  and  full  of  an  ardour  he  had  never 
known  before,  he  unhesitatingly  cast  off  his  past  life,  to 
commence  a  new  one,  with  more  of  moral  force  than  he  had 
ever  yet  possessed,  and  was  received  among  the  ranks  of 
those  evangelical  pastors  whom,  theretofore,  he  had 
approached  as  an  adversary.  The  Waldensian  churches 
required  at  this  epoch  a  pastor  who  could  preach  in  Italian. 
Geoffrey  Varaille  was  selected  for  the  duty,  and  was 
installed  in  the  parish  of  San  Giovanni,  amid  those  very 
valleys  against  which  his  father  had  led  a  crusade.  In 
1557,  on  his  return  from  a  visit  to  his  birthplace,  Busque, 
he  was  denounced  at  the  foot  of  Monte  Viso,  by  the  prior 
of  Starffade,  and  apprehended  by  the  nephew  of  the 
archdeacon  of  Saluzzo.  Pie  was  treated  with  respect ; 
handsome  apartments  were  assigned  him  as  a  prison,  and 
he  was  even  permitted  to  go  at  large  on  parole.  How 
many  ordinary  prisoners  would  have  profited  by  this  liberty 
to  escape  !  But  the  Christian  is  not  one,  with  whom 
it  is  lawful  to  break  faith  with  an  enemy.  Nay,  having 
learned  that  the  reformers  of  Bubiana,  a  portion  of  his  flock, 
were  about  to  rescue  him  by  main  force,  he  desired  them 
to  abstain,  and  to  leave  him  in  the  hands  of  God. 

After  various  interrogatories  he  was  conducted  in  chains 
to  Turin.  His  replies  to  his  judges,  and  the  written  propo- 
sitions which  he  laid  before  them  in  support  of  his  faith, 
are  a  monument  of  his  talents,  learning,  and  piety.  During 
his  detention,  Calvin  wrote  thus  to  him  from  Geneva  : — 
"  Very  dear  and  beloved  brother  ;  Though  the  news  of  your 
imprisonment  has  deeply  grieved  us,  yet  the  Lord,  who  can 


HISTORY   OF  VARIOUS   MARTYRS.  91 

shed  light  from  darkness,  has  furnished  us  with  joyful 
consolation,  in  the  fruits  already  produced  by  your  trials. 
Let  the  glory  ■which  sustained  St.  Paul  also  inspire  you 
with  courage  ;  for  though  you  are  captive,  the  word  of  God 
is  not  captive,  and  you  can  render  testimony  of  it  to  many 
who  will  spread  abroad  the  seed  of  life  they  have  received 
from  your  lips.  Jesus  Christ  requires  this  testimony  from 
all ;  but  especially  from  such  as  you,  under  the  seal  of 
the  ministry  you  received  to  preach  the  doctrine  of  salva- 
tion, which  is  now  assailed  in  your  person.  Hesitate  not? 
then,  to  confirm  with  your  blood,  if  need  be,  the  words  which 
you  have  taught  with  your  lips.  Our  Lord  has  told  us  that 
the  death  of  the  righteous  is  precious  to  him:  let  this 
reward  suffice  for  you.  I  will  not  dwell  on  this  point, 
persuaded  that  you  repose  firmly  on  him  in  whom,  whether 
we  live  or  die  abides  our  eternal  happiness.  My  compan- 
ions and  brethren  salute  you. — Geneva,  17th  Sept.  1557." 

When  the  sentence  of  death  was  announced  to  the  heroic 
pastor,  he  replied  calmly  to  his  judges, — "Be  assured, 
you  w^ill  sooner  want  wood  wherewith  to  burn  us,  than 
we  ministers  ready  to  burn  in  seal  of  their  faith :  from 
day  to  day  they  multiply ;  and  the  word  of  God  endureth 
for  ever." 

Geofi'rey  Varaille,  having  been  previously  strangled  by 
the  humanity  of  the  executioner,  was  burned  at  Turin,  on 
29th  March,  1558. 


(I[iapttr  ^nitlj. 


THE   AVALDENSES    IN    THE    VALLEY    OF    THE    PO. 

The  most  ancient  establishments  of  the  Waldenses  in  the 
province  of  Saluzzo  were  around  Paesano,  and  in  the  deep 
valleys  of  Cruzzol  and  Onzino,  where  the  sources  of  the  Po 
flow  from  Mount  Yisol.  It  has  been  stated  that  their 
origin  in  these  localities  was  contemporaneous  with  that  of 
the  other  Waldenses  who  dwell  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Po  ; 
but  Gilly  informs  us  that  the  inhabitants  of  Praviglelmo, 
Biolet,  and  Bietonnet,  came  from  the  valley  of  Luserne. 
This  emigration  must  have  taken  place  at  a  very  remote 
period,  since  it  was  its  descendants  who  peopled  the 
raarquisate  of  Saluzzo  ;  and  we  find  Waldenses  there  so  early 
as  the  thirteenth  century.  In  1308,  inquisitors  were  sent 
there  "  to  destroy  heresy  :"  but  they  were  compelled  by 
the  population  to  withdraw,  ere  they  had  even  begun  their 
"pious  labours."  A  similar  attempt,  a  few  years  after- 
wards, had  for  its  sole  result  the  courageous  martyrdom, 
at  Saluzzo,  of  the  barba,  Martin  Pastre. 

It  was  not  until  1499  that  violence  against  the  Waldenses 
in  these  districts  assumed  anything  of  a  systematic  form. 
At  this  period,  Marguerite  de  Foix,  marchioness  of  Saluzzo, 
the  slave  of  her  confessor,  became,  in  the  hands  of  fanati- 
cism, the  facile  instrument  of  persecution.  Under  the 
direction  of  the  clergy  by  whom  she  was  infested,  she 
issued  a  decree,  commanding  the  Waldenses,  under  penalty 
(92  ) 


^y  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S    IN    THE    VALLEY   OF    THE    P  0 .        93 

of  death,  either  to  adopt  within  her  borders  Romanism  or 
to  quit  the  country.  They  adopted  the  last  alternative, 
and  withdrew  among  their  co-religionists  into  the  terri- 
tories of  the  seigneurs  of  Paesano.  Hither,  the  marchio- 
ness, "having  purchased  the  right  to  pursue  them,"  had 
them  assailed  by  two  hundred  soldiers.  Most  of  them 
fled  to  Barges  with  their  herds,  but  some  were  taken  and 
thrown  into  prison.  They  were  tried,  ivWi  torture,  and  on 
the  24th  of  March,  1510,  five  of  them  were  condemned  to 
be  burned  alive  on  Palm  Sunday.  The  pyre  was  raised  in 
a  field  opposite  the  house  of  the  father  of  one  of  the 
victims,  named  Maynard;  but  when  the  day  of  execution 
came,  there  was  so  heavy  a  fall  of  snow  and  rain  that  the 
wood  would  not  burn,  and  the  ceremony  was  posponed 
until  the  next  day.  In  the  meanwhile,  however,  a  friend 
having  conveyed  a  file  to  the  captives,  they  effected  their 
escape,  and  took  refuge  with  their  co-religionists  at  Barges. 
Three  of  the  prisoners  who  remained  were,  however, 
burned  alive  on  the  2d  of  May ;  others  died  under  the 
bastinado  ;  others  perished  slowly  in  the  dungeons  of 
Paesano  ;  a  few  escaped  with  exile  ;  but  the  property  of  all 
was  confiscated,  and  two-thirds  of  the  proceeds  Avent  to  the 
marchioness  of  Saluzzo,  who  was  thus  infinitely  more  than 
repaid  the  outlay  she  had  undergone  in  the  persecution. 
On  the  18tli  of  July,  1510,  the  Inquisition  demolished 
the  church  of  the  Waldenses.  This  ^'■synagogue  of  the 
heretics,"  says  a  contemporary  manuscript,  "  was  white 
and  beautiful  without,  but  within  full  of  windings,  like  a 
labyrinth."  In  the  year  following,  five  more  Waldenses 
were  burned  alive  at  Saint  Frons.  Meanwhile,  all  who 
escaped  the  fire  and  the  sword,  had  taken  refuge  amongst 
their  brethren  in  the  valley  of  Luserne,  by  whom  they 
'were  fraternally  supported  for  five  years.     From  time  to 


94     -WALDENSES    IN    THE   VALLEY    OF    THE    PO. 

time,  during  this  period,  negotiations  were  essayed  by  them 
■with  the  marchioness  of  Saluzzo,  with  a  view  to  their 
return  home ;  but  their  letters  received  no  reply.  It 
became  necessary  that  they  should  no  longer  be  a  burden 
on  their  charitable  brothers,  and  in  1512  they  assembled, 
armed,  in  the  valley  of  Rora,  and,  departing  at  night, 
traversed  the  mountains  of  Cruzzol,  descended  into  the 
valley  of  the  Po,  reached  their  homes,  fell  like  a  thunder- 
bolt on  their  despoilers,  drove  them  from  the  district,  and 
established  once  more,  by  their  daring  resolution,  their 
own  position  and  the  faith  of  their  ancestors. 

For  some  years  the  churches  of  the  valley  of  the  Po  were 
tranquil.  The  breath  of  the  Reformation  then  began  to 
arouse  men's 'minds;  and  in  the  province  of  Saluzzo,  the 
seigneurs  of  Montroux,  of  Villanova-Solaro,  and  others, 
opened  their  castle  halls  to  meetings  of  the  new  reformers. 
The  disciples  of  these  rapidly  increased ;  and  until  pastors 
of  their  own  came,  they  repaired  with  zeal  to  the 
preachings  which  now  took  place  regularly  in  the  valley 
of  Luserne.  The  duke  of  Savoy  made  every  effort  to 
check  this  progress  of  protestanism,  but  in  vain  ;  and  on 
the  Gth  of  June,  15G3,  the  church  of  Dronero,  one  of 
the  most  flourishing  in  the  marquisate,  obtained,  under  the 
edict  of  pacification  which  the  king  of  Navarro  had 
procured  in  favour  of  his  co-religionists,  letters-patent 
authorizing  it  to  open  a  protestant  church  at  the  gates  of 
the  town.  These  letters  were  by  the  influence  of  Mary  de 
Medici,  withdrawn  in  the  same  year,  but  the  courage  of 
the  protestants  was  not  quelled  ;  and  in  the  following  years, 
favoured  by  the  intestine  agitations  of  France,  they  organ- 
ized themselves  throughout  the  marquisate  on  the  footing 
of  the  reformed  churches,  with  pastors,  deacons,  consis- 
tories, and  a  regular,  and  even  general,  public  worship. 


THE  WALDENSES  IN   THE    PLAIN   OF   PIEDMONT. 

In  the  space  between  Turin  and  the  Waldensian  valleys, 
there  is  probably  not  a  single  town  in  which  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century  did  not  find  adherents  and 
sympathy.  Romanism  had  fallen  into  utter  degradation. 
Cornelio  d'Adro,  an  inquisitor  of  Raccoms,  writing  to  the 
holy  office,  on  the  22d  of  October,  1567  says  : — "  I  cannot 
adequately  depict  the  decay  Avith  Avhich  our  religion  is 
struck  in  this  country  ;  the  churches  are  in  ruin,  the  altars 
stripped,  the  sacerdotal  vestments  in  rags,  the  priests 
ignorant,  and  everything  connected  with  the  church  in 
utter  contempt."  In  this  juncture  the  abler  partisans  of 
Rome  saw  that  their  most  efficient  course  for  stemming  the 
torrent  of  the  new  opinions,  was  in  affecting  to  share  them. 
"  Reform  is  necessary,"  said  they,  "  and  the  church  herself 
will  undertake  it ;  do  not,  therefore,  separate  from  her,  or 
needlessly  and  unfilially  assail  her."  The  Waldenses  how- 
ever, would  admit  no  concessions,  insisting  upon  this  decla- 
ration of  our  Saviour  :  "  Whosoever  shall  confess  me  before 
men,  him  will  I  confess  also  before  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven :  But  whosoever  shall  deny  me  before  men,  him 
will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
The  papists  at  length  (loth  February,  1560)  procured, 
from  the  duke,  an  order  that  none,  save  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Waldensian  valleys  themselves,  should  exercise  the 

(95) 


9(3  THE   WAL  DENSE  S. 

Protestant  worship,  and  that  none  should  visit  the  valleys 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  attending  that  worship.  The 
inquisitors  forthwith  commenced  their  persecutions  through- 
out Piedmont,  and  two  martyrs  were  burned  alive  at 
Carignano.  The  Protestants,  alarmed  like  a  flock  of 
sheep  suddenly  assailed,  dispersed.  The  archers  then 
proceeded  to  the  valley  of  jMeano,  where  they  seized  a 
number  of  Waldenses,  and  among  them  their  pastor,  Jacob, 
who,  upon  his  reiterated  refusals  to  abjure,  was  led  to  the 
stake,  his  mouth  gagged  and  his  arms  bound,  and  burned 
alive  by  a  slow  fire. 

The  city  of  Turin  belonging  at  this  time  to  France,  the 
catholic  clergy  obtained  (17th  February,  1561)  from  Charles 
IX.,  an  order  for  the  suppression,  in  and  about  the  city 
of  the  reformed  worship.  The  Protestant  pastors  were,  in 
pusuance  of  this  order,  banished  from  Turin.  The  assem- 
blies of  The  Religion^  for  such  was  the  admitted  designa- 
tion of  Protestantism,  Avere,  first  ordered  to  be  watched  by 
the  authorities,  and  then,  shortly  after,  to  be  altogether 
suppressed.  All  who  were  found  guilty,  in  the  very  act 
of  common  prayers  and  biblical  meditations,  were  treated 
as  high  criminals.  The  reformers  of  Conde,  of  Ozasc, 
and  Frossac,  rather  than  attend  mass,  renounced  their 
homes  and  their  property,  and  took  refuge  among  their 
brethren  in  the  valley  of  Lucerne. 

The  churches  of  Conio  and  Caragli  had  acquired  large 
extension.  Men  of  the  higher  ranks  were  prominent  in 
their  flocks;  and  so  long  as  their  valour  had  been  neces- 
sary to  the  duke  of  Savoy,  in  his  wars  as  an  ally  of  Spain 
against  France,  these  seigneurs  were  permitted  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion. 

But  peace  was  concluded ;  and  the  clergy  superseding 
these  war-men  around  the  person  of  the  sovereign,  urged 


THE    PLAIN   OF   PIEDMONT.  97 

upon  him  that  his  glory  was  concerned  in  re-establishing, 
in  its  integrity,  the  religion  of  his  ancestors.  The  duke 
assented;  and  first,  the  protestants  were  forbidden  to 
exercise  their  worship  beyond  the  limits  of  the  "VValden- 
sian  valleys  ;  and  then,  (28th  September,  1561),  all  the 
inhabitants  were  required  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the 
magistrates  any  books  of  the  Religion,  which  they  might 
possess.  At  the  same  time,  the  duke  ordered  all  his 
subjects  to  attend  the  preachings  of  the  missionaries  he 
was  about  to  send  amongst  them.  The  preaching  of  one 
of  these  missionaries  informed  the  auditory  that  "  God  had 
given  them  a  mild  winter  that  year,  that  so  they  might 
economize  wood  for  burning  the  Lutherans  in  the  spring." 
It  may  be  readily  conceived  that  such  eloquence  as  this 
produced  no  great  effect.  On  the  28th  of  December, 
1561,  a  fresh  edict  commanded  all  persons  Avhosoever  to 
attend  mass  without  further  delay ;  but  scarcely  any  of 
the  Protestants  obeyed  the  injunction,  and  the  number  of 
recusants  being  so  great,  no  steps  were  taken,  at  the  time, 
to  enforce  the  decree. 

In  1565,  however,  the  duke  having  ordered  the  Walden- 
ses  of  the  valleys — to  whom,  in  1561,  he  had  granted  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion — to  abjure,  within  two 
months,  the  Protestants  of  Conio  were  imperatively 
enjoined  forthwith  to  attend  before  the  magistrates,  and 
make  a  declaration  of  Romish  orthodoxy,  under  penalty 
of  the  severest  punishments.  Fifty-five  families  were 
found  daring  enough,  in  the  presence  of  the  authorities, 
to  repudiate  popery,  and  declare  themselves  protestants. 
The  humbler  among  these,  knowing  the  consequences  of 
their  recusancy,  at  once  sold  their  little  property  and 
departed  elsewhere.  A  few  only,  of  the  more  powerful, 
obtained  permission,  on  the  guarantee,  in  each  case,  of  a 
9  a 


OS 


THE    WALDENSES. 


Roman  Catholic  proprietor,  to  retain  their  lands  and 
their  reli'non,  on  the  condition  that  they  should  not  exer- 
cise that  reii"'ion  either  in  their  own  houses  or  elsewhere, 
under  penalty  of  the  total  confiscation  of  all  they  were 
Avorth.  Thus  disappeared  the  church  of  God  from  the 
banks  of  the  Stura. 

The  church  of  Caragli  underwent  much  the  same  vicissi- 
tudes with  those  of  Conio.  In  March,  1565,  a  list  of  the 
Reformers  there  Avas  required  from  the  magistrates,  and 
the  number  returned  was  nearly  900.  In  April,  the  duke 
of  Savoy  sent  to  Caragli  a  missionary,  and  with  him  an 
order  for  all  the  inhabitants  to  attend  his  preachings. 
The  great  majority  of  the  Reformers  paid  no  attention  to 
this  order  :  thereupon  the  duke  menaced  all  who  should 
pexsist  in  their  heresy  "  with  his  severest  displeasure;" 
and  on  10th  June  appeared  an  edict,  ordering  all  Protes- 
tants who  would  not,  within  the  space  of  two  months, 
abjure,  to  quit  the  territory.  The  duchess  of  Savoy,  and 
the  seigneurs  of  Villanova-Solaro,  under  whose  protection 
the  reformers  had  hitherto  prospered,  essayed  to  procure 
a  revocation  of  this  impolitic  and  cruel  edict ;  but  the 
influence  of  the  Catholic  clergy  prevailed,  and  on  30th 
November,  the  decree  was  carried  into  execution,  popish 
charity  taking  the  further  precaution  of  prohibiting  any 
of  the  surrounding  populations  from  giving  harbour  or 
aid  to  the  proscribed  families  who  thus  preferred  exile  to 
abjuration.  The  noble  family  of  Solaro  itself,  which  now 
consisted  of  six  brothers,  all  Protestants,  was.  upon  its 
pertinacious  adherence  to  the  faith  it  had  adopted, 
banished  and  dispersed  some  years  afterwards,  and  its 
property  confiscated. 

Meanwhile  under  the  French  rule,  the  churches  of 
Saluzzo  enjoyed  toleration  ;  but  their  pastors  were  for  the 


T  II  E    1'  L  A  I  N    0  F    P  I  E  D  M  0  N  T .  99 

most  part  foreigners — Swiss,  or  Piedmontese;  and,  taking 
advantage  of  this  circumstance,  the  popish  clergy  induced 
the  duke  of  Savoy  to  demand  (1567),  from  the  French 
lieutenant  of  the  province  of  Saluzzo,  the  extradition  of 
any  of  his  subjects  who  might  have  taken  refuge  there; 
and  the  governor  of  Saluzzo  accordingly  ordered  all 
foreigners  to  quit  the  territory  within  three  days,  and 
not  to  return,  except  upon  special  permission,  under 
penalty  of  death  and  confiscation  of  goods.  By  the  inter- 
vention, however,  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  this  decree  was 
withdrawn,  and  these  churches  seemed  to  have  a  chance 
of  tranquillity. 

When  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  took  place, 
Biragne,  the  governor  of  Saluzzo,  received  orders  to 
slaughter  all  the  Protestants  within  his  jurisdiction. 
Appalled  at  these  sanguinary  instructions,  he  submitted 
them  for  consideration  to  the  Chapter ;  and  although 
several  of  its  members  were  in  favour  of  complete  and 
immediate  execution  of  the  order,  the  majority,  headed 
by  the  excellent  archdeacon  of  Saluzzo,  Samuel  Vacca, 
insisted  that  so  cruel  a  decree  must  be  the  result  of  some 
misconception  or  misrepresentation  ;  and  a  delay  was 
thus  obtained,  which  saved  the  lives  of  the  menaced 
brethren  until  the  reprobation  which  speedily  visited  the 
cowardly  slaughter  that  had  taken  place,  ensured  their 
safety. 

For  a  while  the  churches  of  Saluzzo  remained  peaceful 
and  flourishing ;  but  in  1597,  Charles  Emanuel,  having 
taken  possession  of  the  marquisate,  called  upon  the 
churches  of  Saluzzo  to  come  into  the  bosom  of  Catholicism. 
The  churches  respectfully  declined  the  invitation,  and  the 
duke  did  not  further  press  the  point  at  the  time ;  but, 
becoming  undisputed   master  of  the  territory  under  the 


100  THE   WALDENSES, 

peace  of  Lyon  (ITtli  Jan.  1601),  he  issued  (June,  1601) 
a  decree,  ordering  all  Christians  of  the  evangelical  party 
to  quit  his  states  within  two  months,  unless  they  abjured 
within  a  fortnight.  The  refractory  were  to  be  punished 
with  death,  and  the  confiscation  of  their  goods.  The 
Reformers  addressed  humble  but  urgent  memorials  to  the 
duke  for  the  revocation  of  this  decree;  and  in  the  hope 
that  the  storm  would  pass  over,  permitted  the  two  months 
asigned  to  elapse  without  making  any  preparations  for 
their  departure.  At  the  expiration  of  that  period,  they 
received  orders  at  once  to  depart,  or  at  once  to  abjure  ;  and 
thus  taken  by  surprise,  solicited  with  urgent  entreaties  and 
promises  on  the  one  hand,  and  menaced  for  themselves  and 
their  families  on  the  other,  many  of  them,  with  hearts  well- 
nish  broken,  consented  to  enter  the  Romish  church.  The 
rest  withdrew,  some  to  Geneva,  some  to  France,  some  to  the 
Waldensian  valleys. 

As  yet,  no  menace  had  been  directed  against  the 
Waldensians  of  Praviglelmo  and  of  the  upper  valley  of  the 
Po,  where  the  evangelical  worship  had  been  exercised 
from  time  immemorial.  When  the  Waldensians  of  the 
plain,  however,  were  all  banished  or  dispersed,  the  Walden- 
sians of  the  hills  were  in  their  turn,  enjoined  to  abjure  or 
to  depart.  But  these  hardy  mountaineers,  full  of  indig- 
nation at  this  invasion  of  their  long-undisputed  rights, 
assembled  in  arms,  and  having  first  menaced  the  Catholics 
among  whom  they  lived,  with  fire  and  sword,  if  during 
their  absence  any  evil  should  happen  to  their  wives  and 
children,  descended  into  the  plain,  took  possession  of  the 
market-place  at  Chateau-Dauphin,  and  threatened  to 
devastate  the  whole  district  if  the  edict  ascainst  them  was 
not  withdrawn.     The   Catholic  population,  who  had  ever 


THE    PLAIN    OF    PIEDMONT.  101 

found  in  the  Protestants  good  and  peaceful  neighbours, 
assembled,  addressed  a  memorial  to  Charles  Emanuel,  the 
edict  was  revoked,  and  for  awhile  the  Waldensians  of 
Praviglelmo  escaped  the  proscription  which  fell  so  heavily 
upon  their  brethren. 


C^iiptH  CmHft[i, 


THE   SECOND   GENERAL   PERSECUTION   OF   THE 
WALDENSES    OF   PIEDMONT. 

After  the  first  general  persecution  of  the  Waldenses  by 
Cataneo,  which  is  related  in  the  fourth  chapter,  the  course 
of  the  present  narrative  diverged  from  the  history  of  the 
Piedmontese  valleys,  to  give  a  brief  account  of  the  Wal- 
denses of  the  adjoining  valleys  in  Dauphiny  and  Provence 
on  the  French  side  of  the  Alps,  in  the  valley  of  the  Po, 
in  the  plain  of  Piedmont,  and  in  Calabria.  In  each  of 
these  places  numerous  Waldenses  were  formerly  to  be 
found,  either  indigenous  or  colonists  from  the  mother-val- 
leys. These  places,  as  we  have  seen,  were  signalized  by 
some  of  the  earliest  as  well  as  some  of  the  bloodiest  perse- 
cutions of  this  poor  people.  Having  given  as  full  an 
account  of  them  as  our  space  permits,  we  now  return  to 
the  main  thread  of  the  narrative. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  now  write,  the  Waldenses  of 
Piedmont  were  included  within  the  dominions  of  the  king 
of  Franco.  The  Pope,  in  negotiating  a  treaty  with  the 
French  king,  Henry  II.,  took  occasion  to  demand  the  in- 
stitution of  severe  measures  against  the  Waldenses.  Henry 
accordingly  directed  the  parliament  of  Turin  to  proceed 
against  the  so-called  heretics.  The  parliament  appointed 
two  commissioners,  San  Juliano  and  Delia  Chiesa.  to  rc- 
(102) 


tar 


THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  0  F   P I  E  D  xM  0  N  T  .  IQ.S 

pair  to  the  valleys,  to  make  investigation  and  report 
thereon,  and  to  take  what  course  they  should  think  fit  for 
converting  the  Waldenses  to  Romanism.  These  delegates, 
attended  by  a  numerous  suite,  reached  the  valleys  in 
March,  1556,  and  commenced  proceedings  by  menacino- 
with  the  severest  punishment  all  who  should  offer  any 
resistance  to  their  measures.  After  visiting  Perosa, 
Angrogna,  and  other  places,  the  commissioners  repaired  to 
Luzerna,  whence  they  issued  (23rd  of  March,  1556,)  an 
edict  ordering  the  Waldenses  to  abjure,  and  no  longer  to 
receive  foreign  preachers,  other  than  such  as  should  be 
deputed  to  them  by  the  archbishop  of  Turin.  One-third 
of  the  goods  of  all  contraveners  of  this  decree  was  to  go  to 
the  denouncers  of  them.  The  Waldenses  replied  with  a 
profession  of  faith,  based  on  the  Bible,  in  the  spirit  of 
which  they  declared  their  resolution  to  persevere,  after  the 
example  of  their  ancestors.  The  commissioners,  by  order 
of  the  parliament,  then  proceeded  to  France,  and  laid  a 
report  of  their  proceedings  before  the  king,  in  order  to 
receive  his  further  instructions.  It  was  not  until  the  fol- 
lowing year  that  they  returned  to  the  valleys,  when  they 
informed  the  Waldenses  that  the  king  commanded  them 
forthwith  to  embrace  Romanism.  Three  days  only  were 
granted  them  for  deliberation;  but  briefer  space  would 
have  sufficed.  "Prove  to  us,"  replied  the  faithful,  "  that 
our  doctrines  are  not  conformable  with  the  Word  of  God, 
and  we  are  ready  to  abandon  them ;  if  not,  cease  to  de- 
mand from  us  abjuration."  "We  don't  ask  you  for  dis- 
cussion," returned  the  commissioners ;  "  we  only  -want  to 
know  whether  you  will  turn  Catholics :  yes,  or  no  !" 

"No!"  replied  the  Waldenses.  Thereupon  (22nd  of 
March,  1557),  forty-six  of  their  principal  men  were  cited 
to  appear  before  the  court  of  Turin,  on  the  29th,  under 


1Q4  THE  WALDENSES 

penalty  of  a  fine  of  five  hundred  gold  crowns  for  each  diso- 
bedience. Not  one  of  them  appeared.  A  month  after- 
wards, fresh  citations  were  served  upon  them,  and  also 
upon  all  their  pastors  and  schoolmasters.  These  citations 
Avere  equally  fruitless.  The  syndics  were  ordered  to  arrest 
them,  but  the  order  was  not  obeyed  ;  and  the  Avar  of  Spain 
and  England  against  France,  the  mediation  in  favour  of 
the  "Waldenses  of  the  Swiss  cantons,  and  the  resumption  of 
his  states  by  Philibert  Emanuel,  who,  in  1559,  married  the 
sister  of  Henry  II.,  a  lady  favourable  to  Protestantism — 
combined,  for  a  time,  to  restore  peace  and  security  to  the 
Waldensian  valleys.  The  manly  firmness,  tempered  Avith 
mildness  and  christian  meekness,  Avith  which  the  persecuted 
Waldenses  used  to  touch  upon  their  wrongs,  cannot  be 
more  thoroughly  illustrated  than  in  the  folloAving  petition, 
presented  by  them  to  Philibert  Emanuel : — 

"A  supplication  of  the  poor  Waldenses,  to  the  most 
serene  and  most  high  prince,  Philibert  Emanuel,  duke  of 
Savoy,  prince  of  Piedmont,  our  most  gracious  lord. 

"  Festus,  governor  of  Judea,  being  required  by  the  chief 
priests  and  elders  of  the  people,  to  put  to  death  the  apostle 
Paul,  answered  no  less  Avisely  than  justly,  that  the  Romans 
were  not  Avont  to  put  any  to  death,  before  they  had  brought 
his  accusers  face  to  face,  and  given  him  time  to  ansAver  for 
himself.  We  are  not  ignorant,  most  gracious  prince,  that 
many  accusations  are  laid  against  us,  and  that  many  calum- 
nies are  cast  upon  us,  to  make  us  objects  of  abomination  to 
all  the  Christians  and  monarchs  in  the  Christian  world, 
liut  if  the  Roman  people,  though  pagans,  were  so  equita- 
ble as  not  to  condemn  any  man  before  they  knew  and  un- 
derstood his  reasons  ;  and  if  the  law  condemns  no  man  (as 
it  is  testified  by  Nicodemus,  John  vii.)  before  he  hath  been 
heard,  and  before  it  is  known  what  he  hath  done,  the  mat- 


OF   TIED  MONT.  105 

ter  now  in  question  being  of  so  great  concernment,  namely, 
the  glory  of  the  most  high  God,  and  the  salvation  of  so 
many  souls,  we  do  implore  your  clemency,  most  gracious 
prince,  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  lend  a  willing  ear  to  your 
poor  subjects,  in  so  just  and  righteous  a  cause. 

"  First,  we  do  protest,  before  the  almighty  and  all-just 
God,  before  whose  tribunal  we  must  all  one  day  appear, 
that  we  intend  to  live  and  die  in  the  holy  faith,  piety,  and 
religion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  we  do  abhor 
all  heresies  that  have  been,  and  are,  condemned  by  the 
Word  of  God. 

"  We  do  embrace  the  most  holy  doctrine  of  the  prophets 
and  apostles,  as  likewise  of  the  Nicene  and  Athanasian 
creeds :  we  subscribe  to  the  four  councils,  and  to  all  the 
ancient  fathers,  in  all  such  things  as  arc  not  repugnant  to 
the  analogy  of  faith. 

*'  We  do  most  willingly  yield  obedience  to  our  superiors  ; 
we  ever  endeavour  to  live  peaceably  with  our  neighbours ; 
we  have  wronged  no  man,  though  provoked ;  nor  do  we 
fear  that  any  can,  with  reason,  complain  against  us. 

"  Finally,  we  never  were  obstinate  in  our  opinions ;  but 
rather  tractable,  and  always  ready  to  receive  all  holy  and 
pious  admonitions,  as  appears  by  our  confessions  of  faith. 

"And  we  are  so  far  from  refusing  a  discussion,  or  rather 
a  free  council  wherein  all  things  may  be  established  by  the 
Word  of  God,  that  we  rather  desire  the  same  with  all  our 
hearts. 

"AVe  likewise  beseech  your  highness  to  consider,  that 
this  religion  we  profess,  is  not  ours  only,  nor  hath  it  been 
invented  by  man  of  late  years,  as  it  is  falsely  reported ; 
but  it  is  the  religion  of  our  fathers,  grandfathers,  and 
great  grandfathers,  and  other  yet  more  ancient  predeces- 
sors of  ours,  and  of  the  blessed  martyrs,  confessors,  pro- 


106 


THE    WALDENSES 


phets,  and  apostles ;  and  if  any  can  prove  the  contrary, 
we  are  ready  to  subscribe,  and  yield  thereunto.  The  Word 
of  God  shall  not  perish,  but  remain  for  ever :  therefore,  if 
our  religion  be  the  true  word  of  God,  as  we  are  persuaded, 
and  not  the  invention  of  men,  no  human  force  shall  be  able 
to  extinguish  the  same. 

"Your  highness  knows  that  this  very  same  religion  hath, 
for  many  ages  past,  been  most  grievously  persecuted  in  all 
places ;  but,  so  far  from  being  abolished  and  rooted  out 
thereby,  that  it  hath  rather  increased  daily ;  which  is  a 
certain  argument  that  this  work  and  counsel  is  not  the 
work  and  counsel  of  men,  but  of  God,  and  therefore  cannot 
be  destroyed  by  any  violence.  Therefore,  we  beseech  your 
most  serene  highness  to  consider  what  it  is  to  undertake 
anything  against  God,  that  as  you  may  not  imbue  your 
hands  in  innocent  blood !  Jesus  is  our  Saviour ;  we  will 
religiously  obey  all  your  highness's  edicts,  so  far  as  con- 
science will  permit;  but  when  conscience  says  nay,  your 
highness  knows  we  must  rather  obey  God  than  man :  we 
unfeignedly  confess  that  we  ought  to  give  Csesar  that 
which  belongs  to  Caesar,  provided  we  give  also  to  God 
what  is  due  to  him. 

"  There  want  not  those  who  will  endeavour  to  incite  the 
generous  mind  and  courage  of  your  highness,  to  persecute 
our  religion  by  force  of  arms.  But,  0  magnanimous 
prince,  you  may  easily  conjecture  to  what  end  they  do  it, 
that  it  is  not  of  zeal  to  God's  glory,  but  rather  to  preserve 
their  own  worldly  dignities,  pomp,  and  riches  ;  wherefore, 
we  beseech  your  highness  not  to  regard  or  countenance 
their  sayings. 

"  The  Turks,  Jews,  Saracens,  and  other  nations,  though 
never  so  barbarous,  are  suffered  to  enjoy  their  own  reli- 
gion, and  are  constrained  by  no  man  to  change  their  man- 


OP   PIEDMONT.  107 

ner  of  living  and  worship :  and  we,  who  serve  and  worship 
in  faith  the  true  and  almighty  God,  and  one  true  and  only 
sovereign,  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  confess  one  God  and  one 
baptism,  shall  we  not  be  suffered  to  enjoj  the  same  privi- 
leges ? 

"  We  humbly  implore  your  highness's  goodness,  and  that 
for  our  only  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  to  allow 
unto  us,  your  most  humble  subjects,  the  most  holy  gospel 
of  the  Lord  our  God,  in  its  purity ;  and  that  we  may  not 
be  forced  to  do  things  against  our  consciences ;  for  which 
we  shall,  with  all  our  hearts,  beseech  our  almighty  and  all- 
good  God  to  preserve  your  highness  in  prosperity." 

The  pertinacious  solicitations,  however  of  the  nuncio, 
the  prelates,  the  king  of  Spain,  and  several  of  the  princes 
of  Italy,  so  far  prevailed  with  the  duke,  that  on  the  15th 
of  February,  1656,  he  issued  a  decree  prohibiting  all  per- 
sons who  were  not  actually  inhabitants  of  the  Waldensian 
valleys  from  repairing  thither  to  hear  the  reformed  preach- 
ing ;  and  immediately  afterwards  commissioners  were  ap- 
pointed to  prevent  the  biblical  worship  from  being  cele- 
brated beyond  the  confines  of  these  valleys.  These  com- 
missioners were,  the  duke's  brother,  Philip  of  Savoy,  count 
de  Racconis,  George  Costa,  count  do  la  Trinite,  and  the 
grand  inquisitor  of  Turin,  Thomas  Jacomel,  an  iron- 
hearted,  profligate,  grasping  man.  The  count  de  la  Rac- 
conis soon  retired  in  disgust  from  the  commission,  leavino- 
the  two  others  to  pursue  their  career  of  blood. 

The  monks  of  the  abbey  at  Pignerol  hired  a  band  of 
marauders,  whom  they  sent  forth  to  pillage  the  Protestants 
and  to  bring  them,  women  and  men,  to  the  monastery, 
where  the  poorer  sort  were  burned  alive,  or  sent  to  the 
galleys,  and  the  richer  imprisoned  until  they  paid  ransom. 
The  valley  of  San  Martino  was  ravaged  by  the  seigneurs 


^Qg  THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S 

of  Perrier,  Charles  and  Boniface  Trachet.  On  2nd  April, 
1560,  before  daybreak,  they  assailed  the  village  of  Eiocla- 
reto,  killed  many  of  the  inhabitants,  drove  forth  the  rest, 
without  clothes  or  food,  to  suffer  cold  and  hunger  on  the 
snow-clad  mountains,  and  took  possession  of  their  dwell- 
ings, vowing  that  no  one  should  re-enter  them  until  he  had 
promised  to  go  to  mass.  It  was  not  until  three  days  after- 
wards that  the  despoilers  were  expelled  from  the  village  by 
its  surviving  population,  with  the  aid  of  four  hundred  Wal- 
denses  from  Pragela,  who  had  marched  to  reinstate  their 
brethren. 

Meanwhile,  the  count  do  Racconis,  who  repaired  to  the 
valley  of  Luzerna,  attended  one  day  the  preaching  of  the 
pastor  of  Angrogna,  and  was  so  much  struck  with  it,  that 
he  obtained  from  the  Waldenses  a  detailed  statement  of 
their  doctrines,  which  he  promised  to  lay  before  the  pope 
in  the  hope  that  it  might  tend  to  a  discontinuance  of  per- 
secution. But  the  pope,  Pius,  IV.,  replied — "  I  will  never 
permit  any  discussion  on  points  canonically  determined. 
The  dignity  of  the  church  demands  that  all  should  submit, 
implicitly  and  without  question,  to  its  constitutions  ;  and  it 
is  my  duty  to  proceed,  with  the  utmost  rigour,  against  all 
who  will  not  so  submit."  All  that  the  pope  would  concede 
was,  that  a  legate  should  proceed  to  the  village,  to  absolve 
"from  their  past  crimes,"  all  who  would  apostatize,  and 
instruct  them  without  dispute,  that  is  to  say,  without  exam- 
ination, in  their  new  duties.  Accordingly,  the  com- 
mander Possevino,  was  appointed  legate  by  Emanuel 
Philibert,  with  instructions  to  establish,  in  the  Waldensian 
churches.  Brothers  of  Christian  Doctrine,  under  whose 
influence  intellectual  servility  would  soon  have  produced 
that  abject  submission  so  essential  to  the  Romish  church. 

Possevino  proceeded  first  to  the  castle  of  Cavour,  whither 


OF     PIEDMONT.  109 

he  summoned  the  AYaldenses  of  the  valley  of  Luzerna  to 
attend  him,  by  deputies.  Three  deputies  ■were  sent  ac- 
cordingly, and  to  these  the  commander,  having  notified  his 
powers,  put  the  question,  whether  they  would  attend  the 
preachings  which  he  himself  proposed  to  address  to  the 
population  of  the  valleys?  "Yes,''  replied  they,  "if  you 
preach  the  word  of  God ;  but  if  you  preach  the  human  tra- 
ditions that  destroy  the  word,  No  !"  Possevino,  without 
any  appearance  of  being  offended  with  this  freedom,  replied, 
that  he  would  preach  nothing  but  the  pure  gospel. 

At  this  moment  a  Waldensian  of  San  Germano  appeared 
before  the  commander,  to  complain  that  the  Romanists  of 
Miradol,  having  first  despoiled  him  of  his  cattle,  had  de- 
spoiled him  also  of  a  hundred  crowns,  which  with  much 
pains  he  had  collected  for  their  ransom,  keeping  both  cat- 
tle and  money  too.  "If  you  had  gone  to  mass,"  inso- 
lently replied  Possevino,  "  this  would  not  have  happened 
to  you.  I  shall  do  nothing  for  you.  This  is  but  the  com- 
mencement of  what  has  been  reserved  for  the  heretics  !" 
Such  was  the  first  example  of  justice  and  pure  evangelical 
doctrine  furnished  by  the  representative  of  the  Romish 
throne  and  church ! 

The  next  morning  he  ascended  the  pulpit  of  the  great 
church  of  Cavour,  and,  in  a  fervid  harangue,  announced 
that  he  was  about  to  convict  all  the  Waldensian  pastors  of 
heresy,  to  expel  them,  and  to  re-establish  mass  in  the  vil- 
lages. Two  days  afterwards,  he  preached  at  Bubiana, 
denouncing  terrible  menaces  against  the  hardened,  and 
making  magnificent  promises  to  such  as  would  abjure.  At 
San  Giovanni  he  invited  the  heads  of  the  Waldensian 
churches  to  a  conference. 

"Here,"  said  he,  "is  the  statement  of  the  doctrines 
which  you  profess,  which  you  yourselves  have  delivered  to 
10 


2IQ  THE    WALDENSES 

his  highness.  Do  you  abide  by  it  ?"  "We  see  no  reason 
to  depart  from  it."  "You  undertake  therein  to  repudiate 
your  errors  when  they  shall  be  demonstrated  to  you  as 
such?"  "  We  renew  the  undertaking."  "  Well,  then,  1 
will  demonstrate  to  you,  that  the  mass  is  found  in  Scrip- 
ture. The  word  massah  signifies  sent,  does  it  not  ?  "  Not 
precisely."*  "  The  primitive  expression,  Ite,  missa  est, 
was  employed  to  dismiss  the  auditory,  M'as  it  not  ?"  "  That 
is  quite  true."  "  Well,  then,  you  sec,  gentlemen  that  the 
mass  is  found  in  the  Holy  Scripture  !" 

To  this  ludicrous  argument  the  Waldenses  replied,  that 
even  had  the  term  massah  the  meaning  in  Scripture  which 
the  commander  supposed — which  it  had  not — it  would  in 
no  degree  prove  the  divine  institution  of  the  mass ;  and 
that  assuredly  private  masses,  transubstantiation,  and  other 
points  contested  by  them,  were  in  no  such  way  justified  by 
his  proposition. 

"  You  are  heretics,  atheists,  reprobates  !"  exclaimed  Pos- 
sevino,  furiously.  "  I  came  not  here  to  dispute  with  you, 
but  to  drive  you  from  the  country,  as  you  deserve ;"  and 
he  forthwith  sent  orders  to  the  syndics  of  the  various  com- 
munes of  the  valleys,  to  expel  their  pastors,  and  to  provide 
for  the  support  of  the  priests  whom  he  should  send  in  their 
place.  The  syndics  replied  that  they  would  only  dismiss 
their  pastors  in  the  event  of  their  being  convicted  of  errors 
in  doctrine  or  conduct ;  and  that  they  would  not  provide 
for  the  support  of  the  other  persons  announced,  unless 
they  were  equally  irreproachable  in  conduct  and  doctrine. 

The  intercession  of  the  good  duchess  Marguerite  in 
favour  of  the  "Waldenses,  was  ineffectual  against  the  ma- 
chinations of  the  nuncio  and  the  prelates:  and  in  October, 
1560,  the  duke  levied  troops  in  Piedmont,  and  ofi"ered  free 

*Massah,  in  Hebrew,  means  burden,  decree,  or  present. 


OF    r I E  D  M  0  N  T .  HI 

pardon  to  all  convicts,  outlaws,  and  vagabonds  who  would 
enrol  themselves  as  volunteers  to  serve  against  the  Wal- 
denses.  The  faithful  seemed  menaced  with  total  and 
inevitable  destruction :  their  foes  rejoiced,  their  friends 
trembled.  Among  the  latter,  count  Charles  of  Luzerna, 
then  governor  of  Mondovi,  urgently  entreated  the  Wal- 
denses,  both  by  letters  and  in  person,  to  yield  to  circum- 
stances, at  least  so  far  as  to  send  away  their  pastors  until 
the  storm  should  have  passed  over ;  but  the  zealous  folk 
refused,  saying,  that  were  they  to  be  ashamed  of  God's 
ministers,  God  would  be  ashamed  of  them. 

AYar  was  accordingly  declared.  The  Waldensian  fami- 
lies hastily  occupied  themselves  in  collecting  together  such 
things  as  were  indispensable  to  life,  in  order  to  be  ready 
to  retire  with  their  herds  into  the  mountains.  The  zeal 
and  fervour  of  the  pastors  were  redoubled.  Never  had  the 
relictions  assemblinss  of  the  faithful  been  more  numerous. 
The  hostile  army  approached :  the  Waldenses  fasted, 
prayed,  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  then  prepared, 
without  fear,  nay,  with  joy,  to  receive  from  the  hands  of 
God,  all  the  trials  to  which  he  might  think  fit  to  expose 
them.  The  mountain  paths  resounded  with  the  psalms 
and  hymns  of  those  who  were  conveying  the  aged,  the 
infirm,  the  women,  the  children,  household  goods  and  pro- 
visions, to  the  surest  retreats  among  the  hill  tops.  The 
counsel  of  the  pastors,  indeed,  Avas  that  they  should  not 
attempt  to  defend  themselves  with  arms,  but  simply  retire 
from  aggression,  or  await  martyrdom  amid  their  families. 

On  the  last  day  of  October,  1560,  a  proclamation  was 
posted  in  all  the  villages  of  Angrogna,  that  the  Waldenses 
would  be  destroyed  by  fire  and  sword,  unless  they  were  con- 
verted to  the  Romish  church;  and  on  the  1st  of  November, 
the  popish  array,  under  the  command  of  the  count  de  la 


112  THE     WALDEXSES 

Trint6,  encamped  at  Bubiana.  Levied  in  haste,  and  from 
all  classes  of  desperate  adventurers,  these  troops,  wholly 
destitute  of  discipline,  gave  way  to  every  sort  of  excess, 
pillaging  before  they  had  struck  a  blow,  and  making  no 
distinction,  even,  between  Papist  and  Protestant.  The 
former,  to  preserve  the  chastity  of  their  daughters  from 
the  gross  brutality  of  these  ruffian  soldiers,  adopted  a 
course  involving  the  highest  testimony  ever  rendered  to 
the  virtues  and  generosity  of  the  Waldenses.  Knowing 
the  austere  purity  of  Waldensian  manners,  the  strength  of 
their  retreats,  the  valour  of  the  defenders  of  those  retreats, 
these  retreats  appeared  to  them  the  surest  asylum  for  their 
children,  and  accordingly,  at  the  very  moment  that  Ro- 
manism was  marching  in  arms  against  the  Waldenses,  the 
Waldenses  were  made  the  depositaries  of  the  menaced 
honours  of  the  daughters  of  the  Romanist  population.  And 
nobly  was  this  confidence  justified  :  the  Waldenses  defended 
the  sacred  deposit  thus  confided  to  them,  with  the  same 
courage  and  respect  as  their  own  families,  exposing  them- 
selves equally  in  their  defence,  and  when  the  danger  was 
over,  restoring  them  to  their  parents,  without  a  thought  of 
recompense. 

On  the  2d  of  November,  the  army  crossed  the  Pelice, 
and  encamped  in  the  meadows  of  Giovanni.  Thence  it 
advanced  towards  Angrogna,  displaying  its  wings  on  the 
hills  of  Le  Cotiere.  Several  skirmishes  took  place  at  this 
point  with  about  equal  advantage,  though  many  of  the 
Waldenses  had  only  slings  and  cross-bows  ;  but  the  small 
defence-parties  left  of  the  Waldenses,  were  too  distant  one 
from  the  other,  to  act  with  vigour.  They  accordingly 
retired,  fighting  as  they  went,  to  the  higher  grounds. 
The  enemy  followed,  but  evening  had  now  set  in,  and 
both  parties  were  wearied  with  the  day's  skirmishings. 


OF    PIEDMONT.  113 

On  the  summit  of  Le  Cotlcrc,  towards  Roccamananto,  the 
Waldenses  halted.  The  enemy,  thereupon,  also  halted,  a 
short  distance  below,  and  lighted  their  fires  for  the  bivouac 
of  the  night.  The  mountaineers,  on  the  contrary,  threw 
themselves  on  their  knees,  to  offer  up  thanks  and  suppli- 
cations to  God,  a  proceeding  which  excited  infinite 
laughter  and  jests  on  the  part  of  the  persecutors. 

At  this  moment,  a  Waldensian  child  who  had  got  hold 
of  a  drum,  and  carried  it  off  to  a  ravine  near  at  hand, 
beat  it ;  and  at  the  sound,  the  Romanist  soldiers,  conceiv- 
ing it  to  announce  the  approach  of  fresh  enemies,  rose  in 
disorder  and  seized  their  arms.  The  Waldenses  observing 
this  movement,  and  apprehending  an  attack  on  themselves, 
dashed  down  to  repel  it.  The  popish  troops,  fatigued  and 
taken  by  surprise,  gave  way,  and  on  being  more  closely 
assailed,  threw  down  their  arms,  and  fled  down  to  the 
valley,  thus  losing  in  half  an  hour,  all  the  ground  it  had 
taken  them  a  day  to  acquire.  The  Waldenses,  after 
thanksgiving  to  God,  took  possession  of  the  abandoned 
arms,  and  made  their  way  to  Pra-del-tor. 

Next  morning,  the  count  de  la  Trinit<5,  having  rallied 
his  troops,  encamped  at  La  Torre,  repaired  its  fortifica- 
tions, and  placed  a  garrison  there,  who  behaved  so  out- 
rageously, that  the  Romanists  of  the  place  were  fain  to 
send  their  wives  and  daughters  away,  and  to  place  them 
under  the  safe-guard  of  the  Waldenses. 

The  small  fortresses  of  Villar,  Perosa,  and  Perrier, 
were,  in  like  manner,  garrisoned  with  troops.  On 
Monday,  the  4th  of  November,  a  detachment  from  La 
Torre,  augmented  on  the  way  by  the  garrison  of  Yillar, 
attacked  Tagliaretto,  but  were  defeated  with  considerable 
slaughter.  A  similar  attempt  upon  Pra-del-Tor  was  simi- 
larly unsuccessful ;  and  on  the  9th  of  November,  the 
10*  II 


1X4  THE    AVAL  DENS  ES 

popish  general  announced  that  if  the  Waldenses  would  lay 
down  their  arms,  he  would  go  with  a  small  train  to  cele- 
brate mass  at  Angrogna,  and  then  apply  his  utmost  efforts 
to  obtain  peace  for  them.  The  Waldenses  passed  a  whole 
night  in  deliberation  whether  they  should  consent ;  the 
desire  to  manifest  their  pacific  tendencies,  to  give  no 
pretext  to  their  enemies  for  violence,  and  to  omit  no  chance 
of  terminating  the  war^,  prevailed,  and  they  determined  to 
accept  the  count's  proposition. 

The  count  de  la  Trinite  having  celebrated  mass  at 
Angrogna,  without  calling  upon  any  of  the  Reformers  to 
attend,  intimated  a  desire  to  visit  Pra-del-Tor,  a  place 
celebrated  among  the  Waldenses  as  the  ancient  school  of 
their  barbas  ;  and  as  the  count  consented  to  leave  his 
troops  behind  him  at  Angrogna,  the  Waldenses  assented 
to  the  visit. 

Pra-del-Tor  is  situated  in  a  verdant  hollow,  surrounded, 
by  rugged  heights,  looking  from  above,  like  a  crater,  but 
below,! like  an  oasis  around  the  desert.  The  sole  acess  is 
a  narrow,  tortuous  path  along  the  edges  of  the  rocks. 
The  population  received  the  count  with  respect,  and  he 
appeared  affected  by  their  reception.  On  his  return,  at 
Serres,  he  had  a  soldier  hanged  for  having  stolen  a  fowl, 
but  at  Angrogna,  once  more  surrounded  by  his  troops,  he 
felt  it  unnecessary  to  wear  the  aspect  of  over-clemency, 
and  accordingly  took  no  notice  of  many  outrages  which, 
during  his  absence,  had  been  committed  by  his  men,  but 
returned  to  La  Torre,  leaving  his  secretary  at  Angrogna 
to  receive  the  memorial  which  he  had  desired  the  Walden- 
ses to  draw  up  for  presentation  to  their  sovereign.  This 
memorial,  which  protested  the  loyalty  of  the  persecuted 
folk,  and  entreated  the  duke  to  leave  their  conscience  free, 
in  order  that  his  own  might  not  stand  laden  with  the  weight 


OF    PIEDMONT.  115 

of  their  Jeatli  before  the  judgment  seat  of  God,  was 
conveyed  to  Vercelli  by  several  Waldensian  deputies,  to  be 
laid  before  the  duke. 

During  their  absence  the  count  de  la  Trinltc  callel 
upon  the  people  of  Tagliaretto  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
his  intention,  doubtless,  being  to  avail  himself  of  their 
defencelessness,  to  turn  that  bulwark  of  the  Pra-del-Tor. 
The  people  of  Tagliaretto  went  to  deliberate  on  this 
proposition  with  those  of  Bonneto,  and  while  they  were 
absent  on  this  mission,  the  enemy,  eager  for  violence, 
attacked  their  village,  plundered  and  burned  their  houses, 
and  carried  off  as  prisoners  their  wives  and  children.  The 
men  assembled  at  Bonneto,  on  hearing  what  had  taken 
place,  hastened  in  arms  after  the  marauders,  rescued  the 
captives,  and  dispersed  the  enemy.  One  aged  Waldensian, 
assailed  by  a  popish  trooper,  fell  on  his  knees  to  implore 
mercy  ;  the  soldier  raised  his  sword  to  strike,  but,  at  the 
instant,  the  old  man  seized  him  by  the  legs,  threw  him 
down,  and  himself  leaping  from  a  precipice,  dragged  the 
enemy  with  him  into  eternity.  All  the  Waldenses  had 
quitted  the  lower  portions  of  the  valley  for  the  mountains. 
The  troops  of  the  count  de  la  Trinite  having  mercilessly 
ravaged  the  deserted  villiages,  ascended  to  Villar,  where  a 
few  inhabitants  still  remained,  whom  they  took  prisoners. 
It  was  here  that  a  popish  soldier  of  Mondovi  ferociously 
exclaimed ;  "  I'll  take  some  heretic's  flesh  home  with  me  !" 
rushed  upon  a  Waldensian,  and  biting  a  large  piece  of 
flesh  from  his  cheek,  swallowed  it. 

The  Waldenses  sought  the  count  de  la  Trinite,  and 
respectfully,  but  with  firmness,  remonstrated  against  these 
acts  of  violence.  "  Is  it  not  the  custom,"  they  asked,  "  to 
abstain  from  hostilities  pending  a  capitulation  ?  We  have 
laid  down  our  arras,  relying  upon  your  word,   and   now. 


116 


THE    WALDENSES 


doubtless  against  your  intentions,  your  troopers  commit  all 
sorts  of  excesses  upon  us."  The  count  assured  them  that 
had  he  been  present,  these  things  should  not  have 
happened,  and  he  returned  the  prisoners.  The  booty, 
however,  he  kept. 

The  irritation  of  the  Waldenses  was  aggravated  by 
incessant  harassings ;  at  length,  the  count  de  la  Trinite, 
having  assembled  their  leaders  "  to  discuss  the  basis  of  a 
solid  accommodation,"  promised  to  withdraw  his  army,  on 
condition  that  the  Waldenses  would  undertake  to  pay  a 
sum  of  20,000  crowns. 

"  I  will  get  the  amount  reduced  to  16,000  crowns,"  said 
the  worthy  secretary  of  this  worthy  master,  "  if  you  will 
give  me  100  crowns  for  myself."  The  bargain  M^as  made, 
and  the  Waldenses  consented  to  pay  16,000  crowns 
($10,000.)  The  duke  abated  one-half  of  this  sum  ;  the 
Waldenses,  who  had  nothing  left  them  but  their  herds, 
were  compelled  to  sell  these,  in  order  to  raise  money  for 
the  payment  of  the  tribute;  but  here  again  they  were 
defrauded.  The  general,  for  a  sum  of  money,  sold  to  a 
few  monopolists  .the  right  of  purchasing  the  herds,  which 
thus,  in  a  restricted  market,  were  sold  for  much  less  than 
their  value.  By  this  sacrifice  of  their  last  remaining 
means,  the  Waldenses  raised  8000  crowns,  which  were 
duly  paid  to  the  duke.  The  army  should  now  have  with- 
drawn ;  it  did  not  stir ;  the  Waldenses  remonstrated  to 
the  general.  "You  must  give  up  your  arms,"  said  he. 
Some  arms  were  surrendered.  "  And  now,"  said  the 
general,  "  before  we  go,  you  must  give  me  an  undertak- 
ing to  pay  the  other  8000  crowns ;  you  engaged  to  pay 
16,000,  and  you  have  only  paid  8000."  "But  the  duke 
exempted  us  from  paying  the  remainder."  "That  is  no 
affair  of  mine  ;   you  promised  to  pay  16,000  crowns,  and 


OF    PIEDMONT.  117 

you  shall  pay  it."  The  obligation  to  pay  the  further  8000 
crowns  was  signed.  "Now,  then,  you  will  remove  your 
troops?"  "Not  till  you  have  sent  away  j^our  pastors: 
it  was  principally  for  that  object  I  came."  The  Walden- 
ses,  in  despair,  impoverished  and  defenceless,  had  no  alter- 
native but  to  make  this  agonizing  concession  also.  They 
resolved  to  conduct  their  pastors  to  Pragela,  which  at  that 
time  belonged  to  France,  hoping,  ere  long,  to  bring  them 
back  again.  The  road  by  the  plain  being  infested  by 
maurauders  and  assassins,  and  especially  by  those  in  the 
pay  of  the  monks  of  Pignerol,  it  was  determined  to  traverse 
the  Col  Julien.  This  plan  having  become  known  to  the 
enemy,  an  ambush  was  laid  for  the  pastors  near  Bobbi ; 
the  pastors  escaped,  and  the  maurauders  indemnified  them- 
selves by  pillaging  all  the  houses  in  the  locality,  under 
pretence  of  seeking  the  fugitives. 

The  count  de  la  Trinit^  withdrew  his  army,  indeed,  but 
it  was  only  into  the  valley  between  Briqueras  and  Cavour  ; 
and  he  left  strong  garrisons  in  La  Torre,  Villar,  Perrier, 
and  Perosa,  whom  the  Waldenses  were  compelled  to 
support — sheep  nourishing  wolves. 

A  party  of  the  garrison  of  La  Torre,  commanded  by 
one  Bauster,  proceeded  one  day  to  a  village  on  the  road  to 
Angrogna,  and  ordered  the  inhabitants  to  entertain  them. 
The  poor  Waldenses  produced  the  best  provisions  they 
had ;  after  eating  and  drinking  their  fill,  the  troopers 
closed  the  doors  of  the  court-yard  in  which  they  were 
seated,  seized  the  men  who  had  been  waiting  upon  them, 
bound  them,  and  carried  them  away  prisoners  to  La  Torre. 
The  unhappy  creatures  were  released  a  few  days  after,  on 
payment  of  ransom  ;  but  they  had  been  so  cruelly  mal- 
treated by  the  papists  that  one  of  them  died  in  agony  the 
day  after  his  return  home,  and  another  only  survived  to 


||g  THE   WALDENSES 

endure  a  long  martyrdom,  from  the  sufferings  he  had  under- 
iTone.  The  flesh  of  his  feet  and  hands  torn  av/ay  by 
torture,  hun^  in  shreds,  the  bones  fell  off  one  after  the 
other,  and  he  remained  a  cripple  for  life.  The  same  party, 
under  the  same  leader,  surprised  in  like  manner  the 
villa o-c  of  Bonneto,  and  carried  off  two  brothers,  John 
and  Odar  Geymeto,  -whom  they  put  to  a  cruel  death. 

I  speak  not  of  the  young  women  and  girls  who  were 
seized  and  taken  into  these  dens  of  iniquity ;  the  atrocious 
outrages  to  which  they  were  subjected  may  not  be  de- 
scribed. 

The  deputation  sent  to  Vercelli  did  not  return  until  Jan- 
uary, 1561.  Their  mission  had  proved  wholly  futile. 
After  harassing  them,  day  after  day,  for  more  than  six 
weeks,  with  a  succession  of  monks  and  priests,  who  essayed 
to  win  them  over  to  the  mass,  they  were  dismissed  with 
the  assurance  that  unless  they  and  those  they  renresented, 
forthwith  abjured,  they  should  be  all  exterminated,  and 
they  learned  that  whole  troops  of  idolaters,  monks,  and 
priests,  were  about  to  be  let  loose  upon  their  valleys. 
Such  intelligence  as  this  might  well  have  been  expected  to 
spread  depression  and  despair  through  these  valleys ;  but^ 
on  the  contrary,  no  longer  fearing  to  compronaise  their 
deputies,  wdio  were  returned,  or  their  goods,  which  were 
gone,  or  peace,  which  was  manifestly  impracticable,  the 
"Waldenses  reinstated,  in  each  parish,  the  pastor  whom  they 
had  removed,  raised  up  their  levelled  churches,  and  re- 
sumed everywhere  the  songs,  the  labours,  the  duties,  the 
joys,  and  the  occupations  of  their  wonted  biblical  life,  fully 
resolved  to  defend  these  and  each  other.  At  the  same 
time  came  letters  from  Switzerland  and  Dauphiny,  wherein 
their  brethren  exhorted  them  to  maintain  their  courage, 
placing  all  their  confidence  in  God.     These  brethren  them- 


OF    PIE  DM0  NT.  119 

selves  furnished  a  signal  example  of  Avliat  they  taught ;  for 
the  reformed  in  France  were  now  furiously  persecuted  by 
the  duke  of  Guise  and  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  whom  the 
feeble  Francis  II.  had  placed,  the  one  at  the  head  of  his 
armies,  the  other  at  the  head  of  his  council.  Dangers 
bring  men  closely  together;  the  valley  of  Pragela,  which 
then  belonged  to  France,  was  menaced  with  the  same 
calamities  that  threatened  the  valley  of  Luzerna.  There- 
upon took  place  one  of  those  grand  and  solemn  scenes, 
which,  at  once  heroic  and  religious,  seem  rather  adapted 
for  an  epic  poem  than  for  grave  history. 

Deputies  of  the  valley  of  Luzerna  repaired  to  the  valley 
of  Pragela,  to  renew,  in  the  presence  of  God,  the  alliance 
which  had  ever  existed  between  these  primitive  churclies  of 
the  Alps.  This  alliance  was  sworn  by  the  combined  peo- 
ple, assembled  on  a  plateau  of  snow,  facing  the  mountains 
of  Sestrieres  and  the  chain  of  the  Gunivert.  Then  the 
inhabitants  of  Pragela  sent,  in  their  turn,  delegates  and 
pastors  into  the  valley  of  Luzerna. 

They  reached  it  on  the  21st  of  January,  loGl.  The 
evening  before,  there  had  been  published  throughout  the 
valley,  a  ducal  proclamation,  that,  within  twenty-four 
hours,  the  inhabitants  were  to  decide  upon  going  to  mass, 
or  were  to  be  subjected  to  all  the  punishment  reserved  for 
heretics:  to  fire,  to  sword,  to  cord,  the  three  arguments 
of  Romanism.  The  expiration  of  this  term  coincided  ex- 
actly with  the  arrival  of  the  Pragalese  pastors  at  Puy,  a 
hamlet  built  on  a  verdant  slope  at  a  short  distance  from 
Bobbi.  The  pastors,  elders,  deacons,  and  faithful  of  Bobbi 
and  the  contiguous  hamlets,  at  once  ascended  to  Puy,  to 
inform  the  new  comers  of  the  sad  calamities  to  which  they 
were  reduced  ;  and  there,  after  earnest  prayers  to  God,  for 
his  counsel  and  aid,  considering  that  no  Waldensian  would 


I^O  THE   AVAL  DENSE  S 

abjure,  tliat  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  procure  an  asy- 
lum elsewhere,  that  it  was  absolutely  determined  to  crush 
them,  a  thing  which  even  a  worm  will  not  endure  without 
resistance,  it  was  resolved,  with  solemn  enthusiasm,  that 
they  would  defend  themselves  and  one  another  to  the  death. 

Such  was  the  opening  of  the  most  brilliant  campaign 
ever  accomplished  by  persecuted  heroes  against  persecuting 
fanatics. 

The  delegates  of  Pragela  and  of  Luzerna,  standing  erect 
in  the  centre  of  the  kneeling  and  enrapt  people,  pro- 
nounced these  words : — 

"  In  the  name  of  the  Waldensian  churches  of  the  Alps, 
of  Dauphiny,  and  Piedmont,  which  have  ever  been  united, 
and  of  which  we  are  the  representatives,  we  here  promise, 
our  hands  on  the  Bible,  and  in  the  presence  of  God,  that 
all  our  valleys  shall  courageously  sustain  each  other,  in 
matters  of  religion,  without  prejudice  to  the  obedience  due 
to  their  legitimate  superiors. 

"We  promise  to  maintain  the  Bible,  whole  and  without 
admixture,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  true  apostolic 
church,  persevering  in  this  holy  religion,  though  it  be  at 
peril  of  our  life,  in  order  that  we  may  transmit  it  to  our 
children,  intact  and  pure,  as  we  received  it  from  our 
fathers. 

"  We  promise  aid  and  succour  to  our  persecuted  brothers, 
not  regarding  our  individual  interests,  but  the  common 
cause,  and  not  relying  upon  man,  but  upon  God." 

The  pastors  had  scarcely  done  speaking,  when  several  of 
the  people  simultaneously  exclaimed :  "  To-morrow  they 
require  from  us  an  ignominious  abjuration  of  our  faith  : 
well !  let  us,  to-morrow,  make  a  signal  protestation  against 
the  persecuting  idolatry  that  would  impose  that  oath  upon 
us." 


OF   PIEDMONT.  121 

The  next  morning,  accordinglv,  before  daybreak,  instead 
of  going  to  mass,  they  rushed,  in  arms,  to  the  protestant 
church,  which  the  papists  had  already  decked  out  with  the 
frippery  usual  in  their  worship.  Images,  flambeaux,  rosa. 
ries,  were  thrown  into  the  street  and  trampled  under  foot. 
The  minister,  Humbert  Artus,  ascended  the  pulpit,  and 
selecting  for  his  text,  the  verse  of  Isaiah  (xlv.  20) :  "  Assem- 
ble yourselves  and  come  ;  draw  near  together,  ye  that  are 
escaped  of  the  nations :  they  have  no  knowledge  that  set 
up  the  wood  of  their  graven  image,  and  pray  unto  a  god 
that  cannot  save,"  pronounced  a  discourse  that  confirmed 
and  encouraged  the  resolution  of  his  auditory,  who  marched 
thence  to  purge  the  church  of  Villar  also  from  the  gross  feti- 
ches of  Roman  idolatry.  On  their  way  they  met  the  garrison 
of  Villar,  leisurely  marching  to  make,  as  it  is  thought,  a  facile 
prey  of  the  Waldensian  recusants.  It  assailed  the  reform- 
ers, who  repelled  it  and  drove  it  back  to  whence  it  came. 
The  judges,  the  monks,  the  seigneurs,  and  the  podesta, 
who  had  all  complacently  assembled  to  receive  the  abjura- 
tion of  the  heretics,  had  scarcely  time  to  take  refuge  with 
the  fugitive  soldiers  in  the  menaced  fortress.  The  Wal- 
denses  laid  siege  to  the  place,  posted  sentinels  and  videttes, 
levied  stores,  and  firmly  awaited  events. 

The  garrison  of  La  Torre  came  next  day  to  deliver  the 
besieged ;  but  the  AValdenses  met  and  routed  them  on  the 
plain  of  Teynan ;  they  returned  next  day  in  greater  num- 
bers, and  were  again  repulsed.  Three  bodies  of  troops 
presented  themselves  on  the  fourth  day,  and  underwent 
the  same  fate.  For  ten  days  the  Waldenses  occupied 
themselves  in  making  powder,  in  digging  mines,  in  forming 
casemates,  and  in  other  preparations  for  taking  the  citadel. 
The  garrison,  at  length,  reduced  to  extremities,  without 
ammunition,  without  provisions,  without  water,  surrendered, 
11 


joo  THE    WALDEXSES 

on  condition  that  their  lives  should  be  spared,  and  that  in 
departing  they  should  have  the  escort  of  two  pastors,  thus 
manifestino-  that  they  had  more  confidence  in  these  perse- 
cuted ministers,  than  in  any  other  protection.  The  terms 
were  granted,  the  garrison  marched  out,  and  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Villar  were  forthwith  destroyed  by  the  con- 
querors. 

This  advantage  gained  by  the  Protestants,  suggested  to 
the  count  de  la  Trinite  the  expediency  of  preventing  union 
among  them.  He  drew  up  his  army  between  Luzerna 
and  San  Giovanni,  and  sent  word  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Angrogna  that  they  need  fear  nothing  from  him,  if  they 
would  take  no  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  other  valleys.  But 
the  people,  rendered  cautious  by  the  treachery  of  which 
they  so  often  had  been  made  the  victims,  made  no  other 
reply,  than  the  preparing  more  actively  than  ever  for  the 
common  defence. 

They  threw  up  entrenchments,  they  established  posts 
and  signals  ;  every  house  became  a  manufactory  of  pikes, 
bullets,  and  other  weapons ;  the  best  marksmen  were 
formed  into  a  body,  called  the  Flying  Company,  it  being 
their  part  to  hasten  Avherever  danger  most  menaced.  They 
were  always  to  be  accompanied  by  two  pastors,  to  prevent 
excesses,  unnecessary  effusion  of  blood,  and  the  relaxing 
in  religious  exercises.  Each  morning  and  evening,  and 
before  every  engagement,  these  ministers  offered  up  prayers 
in  the  encampment. 

The  advanced  post  of  the  Waldenses,  that  of  Sonnail- 
lette,  was  attacked  on  the  4th  of  February,  1561,  and  the 
combat  lasted  till  night.  Three  days  after,  the  popish  army 
marched  upon  Angrogna  in  several  separate  corps,  which 
united  on  a  steep  and  rocky  ascent  called  Le  Coste.     But 


0  F   P I E  D  M  0  N  T .  ]  23 

the  Waldenses,  who  occupied  the  heights,  rolled  down  huge 
rocks  on  their  ranks,  and  dispersed  them. 

The  severest  struggle,  however,  that  had  yet  occurred, 
took  place  on  the  24th  of  February.  The  count  had 
brought  to  bear  all  his  forces,  and  all  the  resources  of  his 
strategy,  the  object  being  to  surprise  Pra-del-Tor,  where 
the  entire  population  of  Angrogna  had  assembled,  and 
where  they  had  constructed  mills,  ovens,  houses,  and  all 
the  appurtenances  of  a  fortified  post.  This  citadel  of  the 
Alps  was  protected,  not  only  by  rocks,  but  also  by  heroic 
fighting-men.  An  attempt  had  been  made  to  reach  it  by 
Tagliaretto,  but  this  access  was  defended  by  the  conquerors 
of  Villar.  Two  bodies  of  troops  were  accordingly  directed 
against  it  from  other  quarters.  The  one,  commanded  by 
Charles  Truchet  and  Louis  de  INIonteil,  advancing  by  the 
valley  of  San  Martin,  the  other,  under  La  Trinte,  by  that 
of  Pramol.  These  two  bodies  were  to  attack  Pra-del-Tor, 
the  one  by  the  Col  du  Laouzon,  the  other  by  the  Col  de  la 
Yachera.  On  the  morning  they  were  to  act,  a  third  body 
appeared  at  the  extremity  of  the  valley  of  Angrogna, 
burning  and  pillaging,  in  order  to  draw  the  defenders  from 
the  principal  post.  But  the  manoeuvre  did  not  succeed. 
The  troop  coming  by  La  Vachera  advanced  first;  the  Wal- 
denses assailed  and  dispersed  it.  The  second  troop  was 
then  discovered,  slowly  descending  the  mountain  side.  It 
was  allowed  to  involve  itself  in  the  ravines,  and  the  guides 
had  reached  an  opening  whence  they  could  look  down  into 
the  valley,  and  had  cried  out,  "Haste  !  haste  !  Angrogna 
is  ours!"  when  the  Waldenses,  rushing  upon  them  from  the 
rocks,  and  exclaiming,  "It  is  you  Avho  are  ours,"  attacked 
them  with  energy.  The  enemy,  confiding  in  their  num- 
bers, turned  upon  this  small  force,  but  now  came  up  the 
Waldenses  who  had   defeated  the  first  comers,  and  who 


|04  THE    WALDENSES 

assailed  the  enemy  on  their  left.     The  latter  still  resisted 
but  suddenly  the  Flying  Company  appeared  on  the  right 
and  the  papists,  assailed  on  three  sides,  turned  and  re 
treated,    as    best   they    might,    up    the    arduous    ascent 
Charles  Truchet  was  prostrated  by  a  stone,  and  his  head 
was  cut  off  with  his  own  sword  :  and  Louis  de  Monteil,  after 
he  had  attained  the  other  side  of  the  mountain  was  over- 
taken and  slain.     All  their  soldiers  would  have  been  slain 
with  them,  had  it  not  been  for  the  pastors  of  the  Flying 
Company,  who  hastened  to  the  field  of  battle  to  save,  and 
to  dismiss  those  who  could  no  longer  save  themselves. 
This  victory  supplied  the  Waldenses  with  store  of  much- 
needed  arms  and  armour,  taken  from  the  enemy. 

To  avenge  his  defeat,  the  count  de  la  Trinte  burned  the 
village  of  Rora,  whose  inhabitants,  after  a  long  and  vigor- 
ous resistance,  retired,  over  the  mountain  snows,  to  Villar. 

It  was  the  next  occupation  of  the  Waldenses  to  construct, 
with  trees,  stakes,  great  stones,  and  snow,  barricades  at 
the  narrowest  points  of  the  valley.  These  were  scarcely 
completed,  when  the  count  de  la  Trinte  advanced,  having 
divided  his  army  into  three  corps,  two  of  which,  infantry, 
were  to  march  along  the  two  heights  of  the  valley,  while 
the  third,  cavalry,  followed  its  centre.  A  company  of 
pioneers  Avas  in  front,  to  level  the  barricades.  The  Wal- 
denses, on  their  part,  advanced  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Felice,  till  they  came  opposite  Chiabrol,  and  fired  on  the 
cavalry  as  soon  as  it  appeared  ;  then,  retreating  from  tree 
to  tree,  and  from  rock  to  rock,  they  continued  to  harass 
it,  until  they  came  to  the  first  barricade,  above  Villar. 
Here  they  halted,  and  swelled  the  ranks  of  the  Flying 
Company,  who  defended  this  post.  Much  of  the  day  was 
spent  in  skirmishes,  at  and  about  the  barricade,  upon 
M'hich  the  enemy  made  no  impression.     Meanwhile,  the 


OF     TIED  MO  NT.  125 

infantry,  "who  had  advanced  along  the  height?,  passed, 
towards  evening,  beyond  the  line  thus  heroically  defended. 
It  became,  therefore,  necessary  for  the  Waldenses  to  sepa- 
rate, in  order  that  a  portion  of  their  body  might  repulse 
these  new-comers.  The  first  of  these  who  appeared  had 
already  crossed  the  torrent  Rcspart,  and  were  ascending 
the  vine- covered  hills  which  overlook  Villar,  when  the  Wal- 
denses, Avho  had  hastened  up  the  opposite  ascent,  met  them, 
assailed  them,  and,  after  a  long  struggle,  compelled  them 
to  retreat  upon  La  Torre,  with  considerable  loss. 

In  the  following  week,  the  Waldenses  occupying  the 
heights,  the  count  attacked  the  hamlet  of  Boudrina,  with 
a  body  of  2000  men,  and  for  a  while  this  large  force 
seemed  triumphant ;  but  the  Flying  Company  came  up, 
with  the  men  of  Angrogna,  and  turned  the  fortune  of  the 
day,  so  that  the  enemy  were  routed,  and  driven  back  once 
more  to  La  Torre.  The  count  de  la  Trinte  then  retired 
to  Luzerna,  and  thenceforth  left  both  Villar  and  Bobbi 
unmolested. 

But  there  remained  Angrogna,  the  central  position  of 
the  valleys,  approachable  on  all  sides  except  from  the  west ; 
and  having  collected  a  new  army  of  not  fewer  than  7000 
men,  the  count  resolved  to  vindicate  his  military  honour 
by  the  taking  of  Angrogna. 

On  Sunday,  17th  March,  1561,  the  Waldensian  families, 
assembled  with  their  defenders  at  Pra-del-Tor  for  the 
worship  of  God,  saw,  as  they  quitted  the  church,  three 
long  trains  of  soldiers  advancing  in  parallel  lines — the 
one  along  the  heights  of  La  Vachera,  the  other  by  the 
road  from  Foreste,  and  the  third  by  that  from  Serre. 

The  approaches  to  Pra-del-Tor,  to  which  the  first  two 
lines  of  attack  were  advancing,  were  defended  by  a  bastion 
of  earth  and  rock-work,  which  the  Waldenses  had  taken 
11* 


j.-)(3  THE    WALDENSES 

the  precaution  to  construct,  but  the  lower  path  had  not 
been  barricaded,  though  it  might  have  been  far  more  easily 
so  closed  than  any  other  access,  by  reason  of  the  narrow- 
ness of  its  path.  Indeed,  the  natural  difficulties  of  the 
approach,  which  the  Waldenses  had  considered  a  sufficient 
impediment,  were  so  great,  that  the  enemy's  column  which 
used  it  was  the  last  to  arrive  in  sight  of  Pra-del-Tor. 
Upon  perceiving  it,  the  Waldenses  descended  to  attack 
them,  leaving  at  the  bastion  above  only  a  few  defenders ; 
but  these  were  armed  with  long  pikes,  with  which  each 
assailant,  as  he  appeared  on  the  escarpment,  was  forth- 
with thrust  down  the  precipice.  After  a  long  struggle, 
however,  which  cost  the  lives  of  two  of  their  number,  this 
little  band  was  about  to  give  way,  when  the  Flying 
Company,  having  routed  the  assailants  below,  dashed  up 
to  the  bastion,  whose  garrison,  thus  reinforced,  at  once 
assumed  the  offensive.  The  enemy,  furiously  attacked, 
turned  and  fled.  The  captain  of  the  band,  Sebastian  di 
Virgile,  was  slain ;  and  the  number  of  the  soldiers  killed 
was  so  great,  that  the  Count  de  la  Trinite  actually  sat 
down  and  wept  when  he  beheld  the  heaps  of  bodies.  At 
the  other  bastion,  the  Waldenses  were  equally  success- 
ful :  they  had  awaited  in  firm  silence  the  approach  of  the 
enemy,  till  they  came  within  gunshot,  and  then,  with  a 
general  discharge,  took  the  papists  by  surprise ;  at  a 
second  discharge,  the  enemy  gave  way.  The  Waldenses 
rushed  forth,  attacked  and  decimated  the  enemy,  and 
dispersed  the  survivors.  As  the  captain  of  the  battalion 
afterwards  stated,  the  catholic  troopers  seemed  panic- 
struck  in  the  presence  of  these  raw  mountaineers,  and 
there  ran  among  them  this  cry — "  God  must  be  with  these 
men  !"  It  was  a  matter  of  no  small  astonishment  with  the 
papists  generally   at  this  time,  that  the  Waldenses,  thus 


OF    PIEDMONT.  127 

triumphant,  and  familial'  with  the  locality,  had  not  followed 
up  their  victory  by  pursuing  the  enemy  and  completely 
annihilating  them,  as  they  might  readily  have  done  ;  but 
the  chiefs,  as  Gilly  observes,  and  especially  the  ministers, 
would  not  permit  this,  having  resolved,  at  the  outset,  that 
while,  under  necessity,  they  would  do  their  best  to  defend 
themselves  by  force  of  arms,  they  would  never  transgress 
the  limits  of  absolute  self-defence,  alike  out  of  respect  for 
their  superiors,  and  out  of  a  desire  to  spare  human  blood, 
using  every  victory  granted  them  by  the  God  of  battles 
with  the  utmost  possible  moderation. 

The  Romish  chiefs  attributed  these  repeated  defeats  of 
their  troops  to  the  circumstance  that  they  had  not  been 
accustomed  to  warfare  in  the  mountains,  asserting  that, 
could  they  encounter  the  Waldenses  on  the  plain,  they 
would  scatter  them  like  chaiF.  It  so  happened  that  in  a 
few  days  afterwards  an  encounter  did  take  place  on  the 
plain  ;  but  it  was  the  papists  who  were  scattered  like 
chaff — not  the  Waldenses.  Victory,  as  Gilly  remarks  on 
the  occasion,  depends  not  on  the  greater  or  smaller  number 
of  men,  not  on  the  greater  or  smaller  space  of  battle-field, 
not  on  the  higher  or  lower  elevation  of  the  ground,  but 
wholly  on  the  merciful  aid  of  the  Lord,  who,  when  it  so 
pleases  his  wisdom,  gives  the  will  and  the  power  to  triumph 
to  those  Avho  support  a  just  cause. 

After  these  numerous  engagments,  in  which  the  Walden- 
ses only  lost  fourteen  men,  the  count  de  la  Trinite  sent 
persons  to  open  negotiations  Avith  them  ;  but  while  the  parley 
was  proceeding,  and  the  attention  of  the  Waldenses  thus 
lulled,  he  assembled  his  troops,  and  marched  them,  in 
the  night  of  16th  of  April,  against  the  two  strongest  points 
in  the  country — Pra-del-Tor  and  Tagliarette.  Tagliarette, 
assailed  first,  was  occupied  at  day-break  by  a  number  of 


jog  THE     W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S 

attacking  parties,  who  threw  themselves  simultaneously 
upon  all  the  scattered  hamlets  which  constitute  the  district. 
The  inhabitants,  surprised  in  their  sleep,  were  some  slain 
and  some  taken  prisoners;  and  the  rest,  escaping  in 
their  night  attire,  owed  their  lives  to  their  agility,  and  to 
their  knowledge  of  the  mountain  paths.  The  assailants, 
after  plundering  the  abandoned  cottages,  descended  by 
Costa-Rossina  to  the  slopes  overhanging  Pra-del-Tor,  to 
co-operate  with  the  other  troops  in  the  projected  exter- 
mination of  the  Waldenses. 

Now  the  first  proceeding  of  these,  with  the  opening  of 
each  day,  was  to  offer  up  a  prayer  to  God  in  common. 
It  was  day-break,  and  they  had  just  terminated  this 
religious  exercise,  when  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  lit  up, 
on  the  mountain  tops,  the  helmets  and  cuirasses  of  the 
advancing  enemy.  Six  resolute  mountaineers,  dashing  up 
the  ascent,  posted  themselves  in  a  defile  where  only  two 
persons  could  march  abreast ;  and  here  they  kept  in 
effectual  check  the  long  file  of  the  foes  who  were  accumu- 
lating behind  this  obstacle.  As  each  two  of  the  enemy 
turned  the  rock,  they  were  shot  down  by  the  two  foremost 
Waldenses  ;  the  two  next  were  shot  in  like  manner  by  the 
two  next  Waldenses,  firing  over  their  comrades'  shoulders: 
the  two  last  Waldenses  loaded  the  weapons  as  they  were 
discharged.  Thus,  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  passage 
was  closed.  Meantime,  other  Waldenses  ascended  to  the 
rocks  which,  higher  up,  overlooked  the  defile  in  which  the 
enemy's  forces  were  collecting.  All  at  once,  upon  this 
armed  mass,  there  rained  angular  rocks,  which  crushed 
whole  ranks  in  their  fall,  and  then,  bursting  into  splinters, 
rebounded  from  the  bodies  like  grape-shot,  and  prostrated 
fresh  victims.  Unable  to  advance,  or  to  deploy,  or  even 
to   fight,  the  unfortunate  troops  retrograded  in  disorder, 


OF    PIEDMONT.  ^op 

and  but  a  portion  escaped.  The  other  corps,  who  had 
advanced  by  La  Vechera  to  aid  in  the  attack  on  Pra-del- 
Tor,  finding  their  comrades  already  defeated,  joined  the 
survivors  in  their  flight. 

The  Waldenses,  doubly  indignant  at  being  thus  basely 
assailed  pending  the  armistice  which  they  had  generously 
accepted,  furiously  pursued  the  fugitives,  and  harassed 
them  with  stones  and  bullets,  up  to  the  plateau  of  Campo- 
la-Rama  near  La  Torre.  Here  the  papists,  facing  about, 
hastily  formed  in  battle  array,  hoping  to  surround  the 
Waldenses,  with  the  aid  of  fresh  troops  from  La  Torre  ; 
but  the  protestants,  giving  them  no  time,  either  to  form  or 
to  receive  succours,  dashed  upon  them,  slew,  among  the 
first  victims,  their  leader,  Cornelio,  and  drove  them,  dis- 
comfited and  in  utter  disorder,  up  to  the  very  gates  of  La 
Torre.  The  same  evening,  the  count  de  la  Trinte  raised 
his  camp,  and  retreated  to  Cavour.  It  was  announced 
that  he  was  gone  to  fetch  cannon.  "  Let  him  bring  them," 
cried  the  Waldenses  ;  he'll  not  take  them  back  with  him.'' 
But  he  came  not ;  and  the  victors,  returning  to  Pra-del- 
Tor,  covered  it,  towards  La  Vachera,  with  a  bastion  so 
large,  that  it  was  visible  at  Luzerna,  three  leagues  off. 

At  this  period  there  arrived  in  the  valleys  a  new  legion 
of  defenders.  The  Waldenses  of  Provence,  who  had 
escaped  from  the  massacres  of  1545,  doubly  inured  to  war- 
fare by  their  misfortunes  and  by  the  savage  life  they  had 
led  on  the  rude  slopes  of  Leberon,  issued  from  their  retreats, 
on  hearing  that  their  brethren  of  the  Piedmontese  valleys 
were  undergoing  persecution  ;  and  either  because  the  cli- 
mate of  Provence  had  generated  in  them  more  violent  pas- 
sions, or  that  the  monstrous  cruelties  of  Menier  d'Oppede 
had  infuriated  them  against  all  catholics,  these  auxiliaries 
were  far  from  imitating  the  moderation  of  the  AValdenses 

I 


130  THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S 

\vith  rcf^avd  to  the  papists.  Animated  Vf'iili  a  spirit  of 
vengeance,  explained,  though  not  excused,  by  the  terrible 
sufferings  they  had  endured,  they  scoured  the  country 
about  the  valleys,  ravaged  the  possessions  of  the  catholics, 
rendered  carnage  for  carnage,  and  diffused  that  insur- 
mountable terror  which  is  created  by  the  fury  of  despair. 
The  surrounding  population,  victims  at  once  of  the  hostile 
army  and  of  the  devastating  incursions  of  these  implacable 
avengers,  loudly  demanded  that  this  war,  so  disastrous  for 
all  parties,  should  be  concluded.  On  the  other  hand, 
desertion  manifested  itself  in  the  papist  army  ;  the  soldiers 
would  not  fight  against  such  adversaries,  nor  even  march 
towards  those  formidable  mountains,  where,  as  they  said, 
the  death  of  one  Waldensian  cost  the  lives  of  more  than  a 
hundred  catholics.  At  last  the  count  de  la  Trinite  fell 
ill,  while  the  Waldenses,  so  far  from  becoming  weaker, 
had  defenders  more  resolute,  more  powerful,  more  numer- 
ous than  ever. 

It  was  considered,  therefore,  expedient  to  make  terms 
with  them.  The  first  overtures  offered  merely  peace,  and 
this  on  condition  that  the  Waldenses  would  send  away 
their  pastors,  and  ransom  their  brethren  who  were  pris- 
oners. These  conditions  were  at  once  rejected.  The 
count  de  Racconis  the  (5th  of  May)  wrote  to  the  Wal- 
denses, inviting  them  to  send  delegates  to  Cavour,  to 
arrange  with  him  the  basis  of  a  definite  arrangement. 
The  delegates  were  sent,  and  on  the  5th  of  June  1561,  a 
decree  was  issued,  granting  to  the  Waldenses,  almost 
every  thing  which  they  had  asked.  It  became  to  them  in 
fact  the  charter  of  their  liberties. 

The  pope,  the  nuncio,  the  catholic  clergy,  raised  a 
vehement  outcry  against  this  convention,  and  did  their 
utmost  to  frustrate  it ;  but  the  cause  of  truth  prevailed, 


OF    PIEDMONT.  131 

and  the  convention  of  the  5th  of  June  afforded  a  solid 
basis  to  the  Waldenses  for  the  ulterior  defence  of  their 
liberty  of  conscience,  which,  though  it  underwent  there- 
after many  rude  assaults,  triumphed  over  them  all,  for  all 
the  persecuted  ones  placed  their  trust  in  Him  who  said 
"  Call  upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble.  I  will  deliver  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  glorify  me." 


CjjajitEr  (KljirtEUitlj. 


CONDITION    OF    THE  VALLEYS    UNDER    CASTROCARO. 

After  so  protracted  an  interruption  of  agricultural 
labours,  after  such  multiplied  pillagings,  and  burnings, 
and  losses  of  every  description,  undergone  by  the  Wal- 
denses,  there  was  utter  poverty  throughout  their  valleys. 
The  confiscated  lands,  houses,  &c.,  had  been  stripped  of 
every  movable  appurtenance,  before  they  were  restored ; 
and  many  were  not  restored  at  all.  The  monks  of  Pigne- 
rol  continued  their  depredations  upon  the  surrounding  pro- 
testants ;  and,  from  time  to  time,  Waldenses  escaped  from 
the  massacres  in  Calabria,  made  their  way,  hungry,  naked, 
and  utterly  destitute,  to  the  valleys,  and  became  an  addi- 
tional burden  upon  the  impoverished  mountaineers,  ever 
prompt  to  share  with  their  brethren  the  little  that  remained 
to  themselves.  Their  distress  became  known,  and  collec- 
tions were  made  for  them  in  Switzerland,  in  Germany,  and 
even  in  France. 

They  were  just  recovering  from  their  depression,  when 
Castrocaro,  a  man  who  had  been  their  prisoner,  and  whom 
they  had  generously  released,  professing  to  the  duchess  of 
Savoy,  their  protector,  the  most  friendly  intentions  towards 
them,  obtained  the  appointment  of  governor  of  the  valleys. 
But,  treacherous  both  towards  his  benefactress  and  towards 
his  benefactors,  he  was  faithful  only  to  the  archbishop  of 
Ti.ii-in,  to  whom  he  had  promised  that  he  would  gradually 
(132) 


THE    WALDENSES    UNDEK    CASTKOCARO,     133 

MithdraAY  from  the  Waldenses  all  the  liberties  which  had 
been  granted  to  them,  and  do  his  utmost  for  the  complete 
annihilation  of  their  church.  His  mode  of  effecting  this 
object  was  bj  successive  restrictions ;  and  first,  in  1565, 
he  demanded  a  revision  of  the  treaty  of  Cavour,  concluded 
in  1561. 

The  Waldenses  rejected  the  proposition.  He  then  pre- 
tended that  they  had  transgressed  it.  The  Waldenses 
applied  to  the  duke  to  maintain  its  provisions.  Castrocaro 
proceeded  to  Turin,  and  returned  with  new  conditions, 
which  he  laid  before  the  Waldenses  for  their  signature. 
But  these  conditions  were  not  signed  by  the  duke,  and  the 
Waldenses  refused  to  subscribe  them.  Castrocaro  menaced 
them  with  a  war  more  cruel  than  the  preceding.  A  con- 
ference was  established  at  which  some  concessions  were 
extorted  from  the  representatives  of  the  Waldenses ;  the 
Waldenses  disavowed  their  representatives.  The  parties 
were  growing  embroiled,  and  this  was  precisely  what  the 
popish  governor  desired. 

He  had  a  body  of  troops  placed  under  his  command,  on 
pretence  of  maintaining  order,  and  established  himself 
with  this  garrison  in  the  castle  of  La  Torre.  He  thence 
issued  orders  to  the  people  of  Bobbi  to  dismiss  their  pastor, 
Humbert  Artus ;  and  to  those  of  San  Giovanni,  no  longer 
to  admit  the  protestants  of  the  plain  to  their  religious 
meetings. 

The  Waldenses,  by  the  medium  of  the  duchess,  obtained 
the  abrogation  of  these  orders ;  but  Castrocaro,  neverthe- 
less, on  the  10th  of  September,  1565,  issued  a  proclamation 
in  the  valley  of  Luzerna  that  all  who  did  not  conform 
should  be  put  to  the  edge  of  the  sword ;  and  at  the  same 
time  wrote  word  to  the  duke  that  the  Waldenses  were  in 
open  rebellion  against  his  authority ;  whereupon  the  duke, 
12 


;^34  THE   WALDENSES 

indignant,  ordered  the  people  to  obey  their  governor.  The 
latter  forthwith  persecuted  the  faithful  under  all  sorts  of 
pretexts;  he  removed  the  learned  Scipio  Lentulus,  pastor 
of  San  Giovanni,  on  the  pretext  of  his  being  a  foreigner ; 
he  arrested  Gilles  des  Gilles,  pastor  of  La  Torre,  on  the 
pretext,  utterly  futile,  that  he  had  been  to  Grenoble  and 
Geneva  to  invite  foreign  troops  against  his  sovereign. 
This  was  the  pastor  who,  in  the  late  war,  had,  by  his  ener- 
getic interposition,  saved  the  life  of  Castrocaro,  as  well  as 
those  of  a  multitude  of  catholic  soldiers.  This  vital  ser- 
vice, which  would  have  inflamed  noble  minds  with  eternal 
gratitude,  engendered  absolute  hatred  towards  his  bene- 
factor in  the  base  soul  of  Castrocaro,  who  having,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1566,  seized  his  liberator,  threw  him  into  prison, 
treated  him  there,  as  his  grandson  relates,  "worse  than 
the  worst  brigand,"  and  had  well-nigh  effected  his  death 
by  burning,  when  the  excellent  pastor  was  released  on  the 
mediation  of  the  elector  Palatine. 

Castrocaro  next  published  an  edict  commanding  all  pro- 
testants,  not  born  within  his  jurisdiction,  to  quit  it,  under 
penalty  of  death  and  confiscation  ;  but  the  duchess  of 
Savoy  procured  the  abrogation  of  this  barbarous  order. 
The  perfidous  governor  then  essayed  to  interdict  the  Wal- 
denses  from  assembling  in  Synod ;  but  he  failed.  "  At  all 
events,"  he  declared,  "  he  would  be  present  at  these  synods, 
in  order  to  prevent  plots  against  the  safety  of  the  state ;" 
but  the  Waldenses  protested  against  this  innovation,  fear- 
ing, not  his  presence,  but  the  precedent. 

In  the  following  year,  the  wars  of  religion  were  rekin- 
dled in  France  ;  the  duke  of  Cleves,  marching  at  the  head 
of  an  army  of  Spaniards  against  Flanders,  was  to  traverse 
Piedmont,  and  his  first  exploit,  it  was  announced,  was  to 
be   the   extermination   of   the   Waldenses.     The   fanatics 


UNDER    CASTROCARO.  135 


rejoiced,  the  Christians  mourned,  anxiety  once  more  spread 
through  the  valleys,  and  a  solemn  fast  was  observed  there 
towards  the  end  of  May,  to  avert  the  menaced  visitation. 
It  was  averted ;  the  storm  passed  on  one  side,  and  while 
all  the  rest  of  Europe  was  in  combustion,  the  Waldenses 
enjoyed,  for  a  few  years,  comparative  peace. 

Castrocaro  availed  himself  of  this  respite,  to  construct, 
or  rather  to  complete,  the  fort  of  Miraboco,  an  erection 
especially  obnoxious  to  the  people  of  Bobbi,  by  reason  of 
the  obstacle  it  established  on  the  road  to  Queyras,  the  free 
passage  of  which  created  some  resources  for  their  colayers, 
or  hawkers,  who,  by  that  route,  conveyed  their  produce, 
for  sale  or  exchange,  to  Upper  Dauphiny.  Castrocaro, 
however,  had  a  special  hostility  to  the  people  of  Bobbi : 
and  his  next  step  was  to  require  from  them  the  surrender, 
into  the  hands  of  the  papist  pastor  of  La  Torre,  of  the 
protestant  church  of  Bobbi,  and  the  land  appropriated  to 
the  support  of  its  minister.  The  Waldenses  refused,  and 
were,  thereupon  condemned  by  Castrocaro  to  pay  a  fine 
of  one  hundred  gold  crowns,  within  twenty-four  hours,  and 
a  further  penalty  of  twenty-five  gold  crowns  for  every  day 
that  the  one  hundred  crowns  should  remain  unpaid.  Upon 
an  appeal  to  Emanuel  Philibert,  this  demand  was  with- 
drawn, but  the  Waldenses,  seeing  the  system  of  persecu- 
tion once  more  in  such  active  operation,  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  renew  among  themselves  that  oath  of  alliance  and 
Christian  combination  which  had  been  instrumental  to  their 
late  triumphs;  and  they  accordingly,  on  the  11th  of 
of  November,  1571,  signed,  by  their  representatives  at 
Bobbi,  the  following  convention  : — 

"When  any  one  of  our  churches  shall  be  impeached, 
individually,  all  the  rest,  combined,  shall  reply,  as  with 
one  mouth,  in  assertion  of  the  common  rights.     No  one  of 


J3G  THE    WALDENSES 

US  shall  adopt  any  determination,  in  such  a  matter,  with- 
out consulting  his  brethren.  All  of  us  solemnly  promise 
and  swear  to  adhere  perseveringly  to  the  ancient  union 
transmitted  to  us  by  our  fathers,  never  to  abandon  our 
holy  religion,  and  to  remain  faithful  to  our  lawful  sove- 
reigns." 

Amid  the  vexations  which  now  harassed  the  Waldenses, 
especially  those  of  Lower  Piedmont,  there  is  a  circumstance 
of  a  very  singular  nature  to  be  noted  :  Charles  IX.  of 
France  actually  wrote  a  letter  of  the  most  pressing  nature 
to  the  duke  of  Savoy,  in  favour  of  the  persecuted.  "I 
have  a  request  to  make,"  wrote  he,  "of  no  ordinary  kind, 
but  as  earnest  a  one  as  I  could  possibly  put  to  you,  and  it 
is  this :  that  having,  under  the  influence  of  passions  ex- 
cited by  war-troubles,  treated  your  subjects  with  extreme 
harshness,  you  would,  for  love  of  me,  and  at  my  prayer 
and  special  recommendation,  receive  them  into  your  good 
grace,  and  re-establish  them  in  their  confiscated  properties." 
This  letter,  written  at  Blois,  bears  date,  28th  September, 
1571,  Charles  IX.  being  then  twenty-one  years  old. 

"  Charles  IX."  say  the  Benedictine  authors  of  the  Art 
de  Verifier  les  Dates,  "  had  received  from  nature  an  excel- 
lent disposition  and  rare  talents ;  he  was  brave  to  intre- 
pidity, endowed  with  marvellous  penetration,  vivid  concep- 
tion, sure  judgment,  and  expressed  himself  with  a  noble 
facility.  But  the  seductions  by  which  he  was  surrounded 
perverted  this  favourable  disposition ;  the  queen-mother 
herself  formed  him  in  the  arts  of  feigning  and  dissimula- 
tion ;  the  marshal  de  Retz  taught  him  to  laugh  at  oaths ; 
and  the  Guise,  by  their  sanguinary  counsels,  converted  the 
natural  impetuosity  of  his  character  into  cruelty."  And 
there  is  no  doubt  that,  under  other  circumstances,  he 
would  have  been  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  excel- 


UNDER    <J  A  S  T  R  0  C  A  R  0  .  137 

lent  princes  in  the  annals  of  French  royalty.  But  ill 
example  and  sinister  counsels  produced  their  wonted  result ; 
on  the  2-3rd  of  August,  1572,  vrithin  a  year  after  the  trans- 
mission of  this  letter,  took  place  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. 

Upon  the  occurrence  of  that  monstrous  event,  the  hopes 
which  the  reformed  churches  had  conceived  were  succeeded 
by  the  most  agonizing  apprehensions.  Castrocaro,  among 
the  foremost  persecutors,  alarmed  the  Waldensian  valleys 
with  his  menaces  of  extermination.  "Sixty  thousand 
Huguenots  have  perished  in  France,"  he  exclaimed,  with 
malignant  vehemence,  "  and  do  you,  miserable  handful  of 
heretics,  think  you  are  to  escape  ?"  The  papist  population 
already  congratulated  each  other  on  the  approching  aboli- 
tion of  the  Waldenses.  The  latter  began  to  prepare  for 
the  worst;  the  women  and  children,  conveying  the  house- 
hold goods,  sought  the  securest  caverns  of  the  upper  moun- 
tains ;  the  men,  remaining  behind,  prepared  their  weapons, 
and,  until  compelled  to  make  use  of  them,  continued  to 
watch  and  pray. 

But  the  cry  of  horror  which  resounded  throughout  civ- 
ilized Europe  at  the  enormous  assassination  of  August, 
1572,  had  its  effect  upon  the  duke  of  Savoy,  whose  heart 
was  touched,  whose  intelligence  was  confounded,  at  so 
monstrous  an  atrocity.  He  protested  energetically  against 
the  cruelties  which  had  been  perpetrated,  vowed  that  no 
similar  crime  should  ever  sully  his  life,  and  assuring  the 
Waldenses  that  they  were  in  no  danger,  induced  them  to 
return  once  more  to  their  dwellings. 

A  relation  of  the  troubles  which,  at  this  epoch,  befel  the 
Yalley  of  Perosa  will  more  fitly  be  introduced  later,  in 
connection  with  the  history  of  the  valley  of  Pragela ;  but 
there   is   one   episode   which   may  find   its  place  here,  as 


133  THE    WALDENSES 

cominc  Avithin  the  general  movement  of  the  districts  under 
consideration. 

Amid  the  almost  universal  fury  now  prevalent  against 
the  protestants,  the  pastor  of  San  German,  named 
Francis  Guerin,  did  not  hesitate  to  go  forth,  himself,  alone, 
to  combat  Catholicism  with  that  bloodless  but  most  potent 
weapon — reasoning.  One  day,  in  1573,  he  proceeded  to 
Pramol,  where  papism  was  rampant.  It  was  Sunday, 
the  people  were  assembled  in  church,  and  the  cure'  was 
celebrating  mass.  Francis  Guerin  mingled  with  the  audi- 
tory, and  waited,  in  silence,  until  the  service  was  termi- 
nated. No  one  suspected  that,  amid  the  crowd,  there  was 
a  knight  of  Christ,  who,  armed  with  the  shield  of  faith, 
the  hemlet  of  salvation,  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which 
is  the  word  of  God,  was  about  to  make  that  word  triumph, 
by  the  power  of  love  and  of  courage,  over  the  servile  forces 
of  superstition. 

The  cure  having  concluded  his  service,  the  pastor  rose, 
and  asked  him  whether  he  had  finished.  "Yes,"  replied 
the  cure.  "  What  have  you  been  doing  ?" — "  I  have  been 
celebrating  mass."  "  AVhat  is  the  mass  ?"  asked  the  pastor 
in  Latin.  There  was  no  answer.  "What  is  the  mass  ?" 
asked  the  pastor  in  Italian ;  but  the  poor  curate  could  not 
answer.  Thereupon,  relates  the  Capuchin,  brother  Au- 
gustin,  in  a  contemporary  manuscript,  the  protestant  min- 
ister mounted  the  pulpit,  and  began  to  preach  against  the 
mass  and  against  the  pope,  and,  among  other  things,  said : 
"  0  poor  folk !  See  what  you  have  here — a  man  who 
knoweth  not  what  that  is  he  doeth.  Every  day  he  says 
mass,  yet  he  knows  not  what  mass  is  ;  every  day  he  does 
that  which  neither  he  understands,  nor  you,  whom  he  calls 
about  him.  But  behold  here  the  Bible,  and  hear  the  words 
of  God;"    "and  thereupon,"  adds  the  Capuchin,  "with 


UNDER    C  A  S  T  R  0  C  A  R  0  .  139 

his  ginicracks,  he  perverted  the  whole  district,  so  that  now 
there  is  neither  cure  nor  mass  to  be  found  there." 

For  five  years,  Francis  Guerin  acted  as  pastor  of  the 
district  thus  gained  over  to  the  gospel ;  he  then,  at  the 
head  of  the  Waldensian  militia,  penetrated  into  the  mar- 
quisate  of  Saluzzo,  then  an  object  of  contention  between 
Savoy  and  France,  and,  after  the  respective  armies  had 
withdrawn,  remained  to  consolidate  there  the  evangelical 
churches. 

At  length,  the  Waldenses  were  relieved  from  the  oppres- 
sions of  Castrocaro.  Emanuel  Philibert  having  died  in 
1580,  Castrocaro  announced  that  his  successor  was  about 
to  march  an  army  for  the  extermination  of  the  Waldenses. 
The  latter  having,  hereupon  retired  to  the  mountains,  the 
treacherous  governor  sent  word  to  the  duke  that  the  Wal- 
denses were  preparing  to  resist  his  authority,  and  solicited 
permission  to  take  rigorous  measures  against  them.  A 
commissioner,  however,  being  sent  to  investigate  the  mat- 
ter on  the  spot,  soon  satisfied  himself,  at  once  of  the  inno- 
cence of  the  "Waldenses  and  of  the  odious  vexations  prac- 
ticed on  them  by  their  calumniators.  He  found  that  Cas- 
trocaro, himself  living  in  pampered  luxury  in  the  castle  of 
La  Torre,  where  "  he  had  grown  fat  and  rich,"  permitted, 
and  not  unfrequently  ordered,  his  soldiers  to  perpetrate 
every  description  of  excess  upon  the  people  around.  He 
had  in  his  palace  a  breed  of  ferocious  bloodhounds,  of  un- 
usual size  and  strength.  His  son,  Andrew,  was  so  profli- 
gate a  debauchee  that  no  modest  woman  could  quit  her 
house  unless  with  an  escort.  His  three  daughters  went 
indifferently  to  mass  and  to  the  protestant  church,  having 
no  sense  of  religion  whatever,  but  merely  eager  to  display 
the  frippery  in  which  they  delighted.  The  duke  of  Savoy,. 
upon  being  made  acquainted  with  the  facts,  ordered  Cas- 


140     THE    WALDENSES     UNDER    CASTROCARO. 

trocaro  to  appear  before  him  at  Turin ;  but,  under  various 
pretexts,  the  governor  withheld  obedience  to  the  mandate. 
Ilis  hif^hness  thus  finding  that  rebellion  at  La  Torre  was 
not  on  the  part  of  the  Waldenses,  but  on  the  part  of  their 
oppressor,  ordered  the  count  of  Luzerna  to  arrest  Castro- 
caro.  This,  however,  was  no  easy  matter,  by  reason  of  the 
fortifications,  the  desperado  soldiers,  and  the  ferocious 
dogs,  who  guarded  the  governor.  Treachery,  however, 
aptly  did  its  work  upon  the  treacherous.  A  captain  of  the 
garrison,  one  Simon,  came  to  an  understanding  with  the 
count  of  Luzerna,  and  by  his  means  Castrocaro  was  seized 
in  bed  on  the  15th  of  June,  1582,  and  taken  to  Turin, 
where  he  died  in  prison.  His  son  also  expiated  his  ex- 
cesses in  a  dungeon  ;  the  three  daughters,  with  the  mother, 
were  left  to  subsist  in  obscurity  upon  a  small  pension 
reserved  to  them  out  of  the  father's  ill-acquired  gains,  the 
residue  of  which  was  confiscated  to  the  state. 


C  [i  a  |i  t  H  /  0  u  r  t  r  r  u  t  Ij . 


CONDITION      OF      THE     AVALDENSES    DURING     THE 
REIGN    OF    CHARLES    E3IANUEL. 

In  1585,  Charles  Emanuel,  viho  had  ascended  to  the 
throne  of  Savoj  in  1580,  married  the  daughter  of  Philip 
II.  of  Spain  ;  and  the  latter  being  one  of  the  league  against 
the  protestants,  it  was  assumed  that  his  son-in-law  would 
not  delay  to  follow  his  example.  Thereupon  the  monks 
and  the  Jesuits  exalted  their  horns,  and  menaced  the  faith- 
ful with  extermination,  unless  they  should  consent  to  a 
prompt  conversion.  The  fear  of  the  faithful  became  great, 
not  so  much  by  reason  of  the  immediate  vaunts  and  me- 
naces of  the  monks,  but  by  reason  of  the  great  papist 
league  which  they  knew  was  forming  throughout  Europe  ; 
and  they  saw  that  they  must  prepare,  if  not  to  avert,  at 
least  to  meet  calamity,  by  more  than  ordinary  recurrence 
to  Almighty  God. 

A  solemn  fast  of  four  days  was  accordingly  observed  in 
the  valleys,  on  the  15th  and  IGth,  and  on  the  22d  and 
23d  of  May,  1585,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  primitive 
church  in  similar  emergencies ;  and  as  if  to  show  that  the 
blessing  and  the  favour  of  God  are  ever  granted  to  the 
fervent  prayer  of  man,  the  Waldenses  speedily  learned 
that  throughout  Dauphiny  the  Reformers  had  defeated  the 
soldiers  of  the  league  ;  and  as  one-third  of  the  Waldensian 
valleys    appertained    to    that    province,    the     advantages 

(  HI) 


142  T  11  E    AV  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 

obtained  by  these  greatly  contributed  to  strengthen  the 
position  of  all. 

In  1595,  Charles  Emanuel,  on  his  return  from  recover- 
ing the  fort  of  Miraboco,  which  had  been  taken  by  the 
French,  halted  in  the  market-place  at  Villar,  and  said  to 
the  Waldcnses  Avho  had  assembled  to  congratulate  him  on 
his  victory:  "Be  good  subjects  to  me,  and  I  will  be  a 
good  prince  to  you — a  good  father.  With  regard  to  your 
freedom  of  conscience,  and  the  exercise  of  your  religion,  I 
will  make  no  innovation  upon  the  liberties  you  have 
enjoyed  hitherto  ;  and  if  any  one  molests  you  therein, 
come  to  me,  and  I  Avill  sec  to  it.'' 

The  catholic  clergy,  irritated  at  this  gracious  intima- 
tion, and  unable  to  effect  anything,  by  violence,  against 
the  Waldensian  church,  attacked  it  by  indirect  means. 
First,  it  obtained  permissson  to  establish,  in  all  the 
valleys,  catholic  missionaries,  who  Avere  to  be  entitled  to 
the  protestant  churches  whenever  they  thought  fit ;  and, 
pursuant  to  this  permission,  the  archbishop  of  Turin  him- 
self installed  a  body  of  Jesuits  in  the  valley  of  Luzerna, 
and  one  of  Capuchins  in  that  of  San  Martin.  Several 
conferences  were  held  between  the  Jesuits  and  the  pastors, 
but  without  the  least  result.  Indeed,  there  was  no  one  by 
whom  the  result  of  such  discussions  could  be  decided.  The 
conference  at  Appiaso,  for  example,  was  presided  over  by 
the  count  of  Luzerna  :  at  the  close  of  the  discussion,  the 
pastor  having  replied  to  the  Jesuit,  requested  the  presi- 
dent to  decide  with  whom  the  advantages  of  argument 
rested.  "  Gentlemen,"  replied  the  count,  "  if  you  had 
disputed  the  qualities  of  a  good  horse  or  a  good  sword,  I 
could  give  you  my  opinion,  for  I  know  something  about  both 
matters  ;  but  as  to  your  controversy,  I  make  neither  head 
nor  tail  of  it."     On  the  2d  of  August,  1598,  there  was  a 


THE   REIGN  OF    CHARLES   EMANUEL.  143 

special  conference  between  the  pastor  of  San  German  and 
the  Capuchin  Berno.  The  arguments  on  both  sides  were 
printed,  but  the  Inquisition  prohibited  their  being  sold  ; 
the  inference  from  which  is,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Holy  Office,  the  victory  in  argument  was  not  on  the  side 
of  Romanism.  Defeated  in  discussion,  the  Jesuits  had 
recourse  to  such  acts  of  violence  as  were  practicable,  and 
imprisonment,  fine,  and  torture  efiFected  a  few  venal 
conversions.  In  1599,  there  came  to  La  Torre  a  cure, 
very  bold  and  blustering,  and  who  seemed  much  fitter  to 
create  disturbances  than  to  conduct  a  church.  Ilis  name 
was  Ubertino  Braida.  His  first  proceeding  was  to  demand 
tithes,  which  the  protestants  had  never  paid ;  his  demand 
was  rejected.  He  then  proceeded  to  outrage  the  Walden- 
ses  with  all  sorts  of  insults,  and,  like  another  Goliah, 
offered  to  fight  any  one  of  them,  hand  to  hand.  But 
despite  his  assumption  of  extreme  valour,  he  always  wore 
a  shirt  of  mail,  under  his  cassock.  One  evening,  some 
young  men,  after  supper,  went  to  the  cure's  house, 
resolved  to  test  his  courage,  and  made  a  disturbance. 
The  cure  ran  out  at  the  back  door,  and  took  to  flight. 
The  young  men  did  not  pursue  him  at  all,  contenting 
themselves  with  a  laugh  at  the  result  of  their  experiment. 
The  podesta  of  La  Torre,  stimulated  by  the  friends  of 
the  fugitive,  cited  the  young  men  before  him,  and 
sentenced  them  to  remain  prisoners  for  a  few  days,  in 
the  house  of  a  gentleman,  whom  he  named.  The  Walden- 
ses  repaired  to  the  house  ;  but  learning  next  day  that  a 
troop  of  archers  had  been  despatched  to  take  them  to 
Turin,  and  cast  them  into  the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition, 
they  took  to  flight  during  the  night.  Next  day,  they 
were  again  summoned  to  attend  before  the  podesta ;  and 
not  appearing,  Avere  condemned  to  banishment  from  the 


144 


THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 


States  of  Savoy,  under  penalty  of  the  galleys,  if  they  were 
ever  found  within  its  limits. 

The  poor  young  men  withdrew  into  the  mountains, 
where,  having  provided  themselves  with  arms,  they 
wandered  about  from  place  to  place,  and  lived  upon  the 
contributions,  voluntary  or  enforced,  of  the  population. 
Here  these  banditti  (banished  then)  lived  for  some  years, 
their  number  constantly  increasing.  Prohibition  was 
proclaimed,  by  sound  of  trumpet,  from  affording  them  aid, 
food,  or  shelter ;  but  they  became  all  the  more  formidable, 
imposing  black-mail  not  merely  on  individuals,  but  on 
whole  towns.  The  podesta  of  La  Torre  marched  against 
them  with  some  troops,  but  he  was  so  thoroughly  defeated, 
that,  ashamed  to  show  his  face  again  in  La  Torre,  he 
abandoned  his  charge  there,  and  retired  to  Luzerna. 

In  the  commencement  of  February,  1602,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Turin,  the  governor  of  Pignerol,  and  the  count 
of  Luzerna,  came  into  the  valleys,  attended  by  a  troop  of 
Jesuits  and  Capuchins,  and  caused  infinite  disquietude  to 
the  protestants,  who  daily  expected  to  see  the  Waldensian 
valleys  become  the  theatre  of  some  catastrophe.  The 
catholics  charged  all  the  excesses  committed  by  the  ban- 
ditti on  the  Waldenses  as  a  body,  and  loudly  demanded 
of  the  duke  of  Savoy  to  destroy,  once  for  all,  this  focus  of 
heresy  and  den  of  brigands.  The  Waldenses  appointed 
special  ministers  to  seek  out,  censure,  and  exhort  the  ban- 
bitti ;  and  a  universal  fast  was  observed  throughout  the 
valleys,  on  the  11th  and  12th  of  August,  to  conciliate  the 
divine  pardon  and  mercy.  The  women  and  children  once 
more  sought  their  mountain  retreats;  the  men  once  more, 
preparing  their  weapons,  assiduously  watched  and  prayed, 
knowing  that  the  only  secure  defence  is  that  of  our  Lord. 

Meanwhile   the  governor  Ponte  repaired  to   La  Torre, 


THE  REIGN  OF  CHARLES  EMANUEL.    I45 

^Yhithel•  he  convoked  the  syndics  of  all  the  Waldcnsian 
communes,  and  ordered  them  to  deliver  up  the  banditti. 
Protesting  earnestly  their  entire  fidelity  to  the  sovereign, 
the  syndics  replied  by  attributing  the  recent  calamities  to 
unjust  proscriptions,  and  admitting  that  some  of  these 
Avretched  outlaws  had  been  guilty  of  excesses,  pointed  out 
the  difficulty  of  separating  the  guilty  from  the  innocent, 
and  the  injustice  of  punishing  all  alike,  and  concluded  with 
an  emphatic  appeal  for  amnesty  and  peace.  The  governor 
rejected  this  proposition,  and  renewed  the  order  that  the 
banditti  should  be  delivered  up,  dead  or  alive  ;  but  a  few 
days  afterwards,  the  governor  was  himself  arrested  and 
deprived  of  his  office,  on  the  charge  of  having  maintained 
secret  relations  with  the  French  generals. 

Thereupon  count  Charles  of  Luzerna,  who  enjoyed  great 
influence  at  court,  offered  to  mediate  in  favour  of  the  val- 
leys with  the  duke,  pursuant  to  a  promise  he  had  recently 
made  to  that  effect,  to  the  elector  of  Saxony,  at  Dresden. 

On  the  19th  of  November,  1602,  Vignaux  and  Gillis, 
deputies,  the  one  for  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  the  other  for 
that  of  San  Martin,  waited  on  the  count  in  his  palace  at 
Luzerna.  Every  one  was  anxious  to  have  the  matter  set- 
tled, for  the  force  of  the  banditti  had  been  lately  aug- 
mented by  a  great  number  of  protestants  who  had  been 
driven  from  the  marquisate  of  Saluzzo,  and  the  plain  of 
Piedmont.  The  result  of  the  conference  was  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Waldensian  deputation  to  the  duke,  at  Turin, 
the  count  promising  the  support  of  his  utmost  influence. 
The  duke,  however,  while  disposed  to  make  some  conces- 
sions, would  not  grant  an  amnesty,  and  the  Waldenses 
would  not  accept  the  former  without  the  latter.  At  length, 
after  protracted  negotiations,  the  duke  issued,  from  Cunio, 
on  the  9th  of  April,  1G03,  a  decree  granting  substantially 
13  K 


146 


THE    WALDENSES, 


Avhat  the  Waldenses  had  asked,  including  an  amnesty  for 
the  banditti,  so  called. 

There  still  remained,  however,  the  banditti  belonging  to 
Saluzzo,  Fenile,  Bubiana,  Villafranca,  and  other  districts 
of  Piedmont.  For  the  extirpation  of  these,  the  duke 
organized  a  body  of  special  troops,  who  were  to  be  main- 
tained by  the  Waldenses,  and  whom  he  placed  under  the 
command  of  one  captain  Galline.  This  oflicer,  however, 
under  pretext  of  pursuing  the  outlaws,  committed  various 
outrages  upon  the  persons  and  property  of  the  peaceful 
inhabitants.  One  day  in  July,  when  the  people  of  Bobbi 
were  all  engaged  in  the  fields,  he  entered  the  village  with 
his  bravocs,  killed  a  young  man  who,  for  some  reason,  had 
been  unable  to  quit  his  home,  drove  out  the  pastor,  and 
was  about  to  pillage  the  place,  when  the  villagers,  having 
received  an  alarm,  rushed  home.  Galline,  finding  himself 
surrounded  by  superior  numbers,  pusillanimously  threw  down 
the  sword  yet  reeking  with  murder,  and  entreated  for 
mercy.  It  was  granted,  and  the  Waldenses,  taught  to 
observe  the  great  lesson  of  good  for  evil,  even  proffered  to 
escort  the  band  of  marauders  back  to  Luzerna,  in  order  to 
save  them  from  the  indignation  of  the  other  hardy  moun- 
taineers, Avho,  on  hearing  of  Galline's  outrage,  were  has- 
tening down  to  aid  their  brethren.  When  the  affair 
reached  the  ears  of  the  duke,  he  sent  the  grand  provost  to 
Luzerna,  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances,  and  take 
measures  accordingly.  The  provost  announced  to  the 
other  Waldensian  communes  that,  whatever  the  result, 
they  would  not  be  affected,  on  the  understanding  that 
they  should  take  no  part  with  the  people  of  Bobbi; 
but  all  without  hesitation  not  only  declared  that  they 
entirely  took  part  with  the  people  of  Bobbi,  but  that 
henceforward  they  would  not  contribute,  in  any  shape  or 


THE    REIGN    OF     CHARLES    E  M  A  N  U  E  i. .  I47 

degree,  to  the  support  of  Galline  and  his  men.  The  pro- 
vost returned  to  Turin,  having  eflFected  nothing.  Count 
Charles  of  Luzerna  then  interposed,  and  the  result  of  his 
mediation  was  an  edict,  dated  29th  of  September,  1603, 
rt'hich  on  the  one  hand,  required  the  valleys  to  pay  a  fine 
of  fifteeen  hundred  ducatoons,  but,  on  the  other,  granted  a 
general  amnesty  for  the  past,  permitted  all  outlaws  to 
return  home  without  being  liable  to  prosecution,  authorized 
the  Waldenses  to  retain  any  property  they  possessed 
beyond  the  limits  of  their  valleys,  and  even  to  make  open 
profession  of  their  faith  in  presence  of  catholics,  when 
desired  so  to  do,  (whereas  hitherto  they  had  been  prohibited 
from  avowing  it,)  and  merely  forbade  them  to  defend  it  by 
polemical  discussions,  a  prohibition  manifestly  recognizing 
its  force.  These  concessions  were  especially  favourable  to 
a  great  many  of  the  people  of  Saluzzo,  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  valleys,  and  who  were  thus  permitted  to  abide 
there.  Large  collections  made  for  them  at  about  this 
time  in  France  and  Switzerland,  enabled  them  to  recover 
somewhat  from  the  effect  of  the  confiscations  to  which  they 
had  been  subjected. 

During  the  few  years  of  tranquillity  which  the  Waldenses 
now  enjoyed,  their  numbers  daily  increased ;  and  the 
church  of  Copiere  was,  in  1608,  enlarged  to  its  present 
dimensions.  Towards  the  commencement  of  1611,  how- 
ever, the  court  of  Rome,  which  had  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing fresh  persecutions  against  the  reformed  churches  of 
France,  and  had  procured  a  regiment  to  be  sent  into  the 
valley  of  Barcelonettc,  for  the  conversion,  in  the  manner 
of  Rome,  of  the  "Waldenses  in  that  locality,  sought  to  effect 
the  employment  of  similar  means  of  conversion  in  the 
Piedmontese  valleys.  In  all  great  emergencies,  the  Wal- 
denses have  ever  been  accustomed,  before  and  above  all 


148 


THE     W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 


things,  to  recur  to  fasting  and  prayer,  to  penitence  and 
supplication :  in  the  present  emergency,  a  public  fast  was 
ordered,  20th  of  January,  1611.  On  the  morning  of  that 
day,  a  violent  earthquake  shook  all  the  Waldensian 
mountains  :  it  seemed  an  omen  ;  for,  eight  days  afterwards, 
the  reo-iraent  of  the  baron  de  la  Roche  arrived,  from  Bar- 
celonnette,  in  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  and  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  ravage  the  district,  and  put  the  men  and  cattle 
and  goods  they  seized  to  arbitrary  ransom,  notwithstand- 
ino-  every  effort  was  made  to  appease  their  insolence.  The 
exactions  and  oppression  of  these  troops  continued  for 
nearly  a  month ;  they  were  then  removed  to  new  canton- 
ments, where,  attempting  to  renew  the  excesses  they  had 
perpetrated  in  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  they  were  all  slain 
by  the  peasants. 

In  1613,  a  large  portion  of  the  Waldensian  militia  took 
part  in  the  war  of  Montferrat,  under  the  command  of  the 
count  of  Luzerna,  and  upon  the  special  condition  that  they 
should  be  at  full  liberty  to  assemble  every  night  and 
morning  for  the  celebration  of  their  own  religious  services, 
wherever  they  might  be.  Their  conduct  in  this  campaign 
obtained  for  them  the  grateful  praises  of  their  sovereign. 
Li  the  following  year,  they  were  again  levied,  to  take 
part  in  the  war  against  Spain,  and  on  tliis  occasion 
marched  in  the  direction  of  Vercelli,  accompanied,  as 
before,  by  their  pastors.  These  expeditions  gave  them 
opportunities  of  destroying  many  prejudices  which  had 
been  spread  abroad  against  them,  and  of  comforting  and 
strengthening  many  secret  friends  of  their  doctrine  who 
made  themselves  known    to   them  in  various  places. 

In  1620,  various  troubles  befell  the  churches  of  Saluzzo 
and  other  districts  contiguous  to  the  Waldensian  valleys. 
Deputies  from  the  latter,  who  put  themselves  forward  as 


THE   REIGN    OF   CHARLES   EMANUEL.  149 

mediators,  ■were  seized  and  irapriscried,  and  the  sum  of  six 
thousand  ducatoons  was  imposed,  as  the  price  of  their  release, 
and  of  the  cessation  of  the  vexations  by  which  the  protes- 
tants  -were  persecuted.  The  six  thousand  ducatoons  were, 
by  the  numerous  exactions  of  the  courts  of  justice,  swollen  to 
nearly  eighteen  thousand  this  heavy  amount  the  valley  of  Lu- 
zerna  advanced,  in  the  expectation  that,  being  a  payment  for 
the  common  interest,  the  other  valleys  (Perosa  and  San 
Martin)  would  afterwards  contribute  their  proportion  of 
it.  When,  however,  the  'application  for  these  quotas  was 
made,  the  two  valleys,  under  the  influence  of  evil  counsel- 
lors, refused  to  comply  with  it,  disavowing  all  share  in 
the  arrangement.  This  disavowal  was  precisely  what  the 
popish  plotters  wanted.  "  If  you  have  no  share  in  the 
arrangement,"  said  the  magistrates,  "you  do  not  partici- 
pate in  its  advantages,  and  you  do  not  come  within  the 
amnesty.  Let  justice  take  its  course."  Justice — popish 
justice — did  take  its  course.  The  richest  inhabitants  of 
rinache,  Clots,  and  Prali,  were  immediately  arrested, 
under  the  pretext  of  their  having  taken  part  in  the  late 
troubles,  and  made  to  pay  for  their  release  ransoms 
amounting  to  a  much  larger  sum  than  the  two  valleys 
would  have  had  to  contribute  as  their  share  of  the  money 
paid  by  the  valley  of  Luzerna  for  the  tutelary  edict  which 
they  had  so  imprudently  disavowed.  Nor  was  this  all : 
the  persecution  of  these  two  valleys  still  went  on  ;  and  to 
effects  their  cessation,  the  inhabitants  had  to  pay,  in 
addition  to  the  sums  paid  by  individuals  for  individual 
ransom,  a  fine  of  three  thousand  ducatoons  to  the  duke.  Nor 
was  this  all :  they  were  ordered  to  demolish  six  of  their 
churches.  This  they  absolutely  refused  to  do,  and  there- 
upon seven  regiments  of  infantry  were  sent  to  treat  them 
in  all  respects  as  a  conquered  country ;  these  troops 
13  * 


J50  THE   WALDENSES. 

demolished  the   churches,  and  ravaged  the  whole  district 
in  its  length  and  breadth. 

Various  attempts  were  made,  in  like  manner,  between 
1620  and  1G24,  to  persecute  the  valley  of  Luzerna ;  but 
the  privileges  which  this  valley  had  so  highly  purchased 
were  not  wholly  without  effect  in  mitigating  oppression. 
In  1G25,  the  presence  of  Lesdiguieres  in  Piedmont,  whither 
he  had  been  invited  by  the  duke  of  Savoy  to  act  against 
the  Genoese,  interposed  in  favour  of  his  co-religionists, 
gave  respite  to  the  valleys.  In  162G-7,  one  father  Buona- 
vcntura,  a  monk  of  great  note  among  his  own  people,  was 
employed  as  missionary  among  the  Waldenses.  When  he 
prayed,  he  was  sometimes,  his  admirers  said,  raised  from 
the  ground  by  a  mysterious  force.  Some  took  him  for  a 
saint ;  others  for  a  sorcerer.  During  his  progress,  several 
boys  of  from  ten  to  twelve  years  old  disappeared  ;  these, 
it  Avas  afterwards  ascertained,  had  been  carried  off  by 
hravoes  in  the  employment  of  the  worthy  monk,  and  shut 
up,  with  a  view  to  their  conversioii,  in  the  monastery  of 
Pignerol.  On  the  9th  of  June,  1627,  several  heads  of 
protestant  families  were  arrested  simultaneously  at  Lu- 
zerna, Bubiana,  Champiglone,  and  Fenile,  and  taken 
prisoners  to  Cavour,  with  the  result  which  has  been  already 
related  in  this  work. 

In  1628,  a  French  army,  under  the  marquis  d'Uxel, 
presented  itself  at  the  entrance  to  the  Alps,  on  its  way  to 
Montferrat  to  serve  against  the  troops  of  Charles  Emanuel. 
The  Waldenses  were  called  upon  to  defend  their  moun- 
tains, and  acquitted  themselves  valiantly  of  this  charge. 
The  duke  himself  twice  visited  them,  at  this  time,  and 
paid  due  homage  to  their  patriotism  ;  for  they  received  no 
pay,  but  only  bread.  This,  indeed  was  a  great  point; 
for  the  harvest  had  failed  in  Piedmont  in  1626,  and  ia 


THE    REIGN    OF    C  11  A  11  L  E  S    EMANUEL.  ]  51 

the  spring  oi'  1028  the  poor  folk  had  been  compelled  to 
sell  everything  they  possessed,  in  order  to  purchase  food 
at  Queyras.  The  presence  of  the  French  army  on  the 
frontiers  aggravated  their  misery  by  impeding  this  barter  ; 
and,  by  and  bye,  the  people  of  Queyras,  growing  alarmed 
at  the  quantity  of  provisions  that  were  leaving  their 
district,  prohibited  any  further  exportations,  and  even 
imprisoned  the  famished  wretches  who  came  in  search  of 
supplies. 

The  monks  of  Pignerol  and  their  acolytes  availed  them- 
selves of  these  circumstances  to  seek  to  purchase,  from  the 
starving  Waldenses,  abjuration  at  the  price  of  a  loaf  of 
bread.  In  this  good  work  especially  signalized  himself 
Marc  Aurelio  Rorengo,  the  son  of  a  gentleman  of  La 
Torre,  who,  having  quitted  the  magistracy  for  the  popish 
church,  had  been  appointed  prior  of  Luzerna  on  his  under- 
taking to  employ  his  utmost  efforts  in  the  suppression  of 
heresy.  Having  procured  a  religious  corporation  to  pur- 
chase his  father's  house,  he  immediately  converted  it  into 
a  monastery  of  reformed  Franciscans  ;  and  the  brethren,  on 
being  installed  (23rd  June,  1628),  at  once  proceeded  to 
distribute  food  amongst  the  famished  population,  with  bril- 
liant promises  to  the  protestants  who  would  consent  to 
abjure.  But,  faithful  to  the  example  of  the  primitive 
church,  the  Waldenses,  rejecting  these  insidious  proffers, 
made  a  common  store  of  all  their  possessions,  and  dis- 
tributed daily  bread  to  all  who  asked  for  it.  The  monks, 
frustrated  in  this  direction,  applied  their  efforts  at  conver- 
sion by  famine  to  the  Waldensian  communes,  but  with  as 
little  success.  At  Bobbi,  the  Waldenses  would  not  even 
permit  the  monks  to  perform  mass,  and  they  accordingly 
proceeded  to  Villar,  where  they  fitted  up  an  old  ruined 
palace,  which  has  since  become  the  catholic  church  of  the 


152  THE   WALDENSES. 

place.  At  Rora,  two  monks  were  located  in  a  deserted 
house.  The  language  of  these  ecclesiastics  was  at  first 
exceedingly  mild  and  conciliating ;  but  on  the  29th  De- 
cember thej  showed  the  scorpion's  tail,  in  the  shape  of  an 
edict,  published  bj  count  Bighem,  which  ''forbade  all  per- 
sons to  trouble  or  vex,  in  any  way  or  degree,  the  very 
reverend  Observantine  fathers,  whatever  they  were  pleased 
to  do,  under  penalty  of  death  to  the  offender,  and  of  a  fine 
of  ten  thousand  gold  crowns  upon  the  commune  in  which  the 
ofience  should  be  committed ;  every  informer  receiving  two 
hundred  gold  crowns,  and  his  name  being  kept  secret." 
Next,  count  Philip  of  Luzerna  denounced  the  most  terrible 
menaces  against  the  people  of  Bobbi  and  those  of  Angrogna, 
who  had  absolutely  refused  to  permit  under  any  pretext, 
any  Observantines  to  settle  in  their  districts. 

The  governor  of  Pignerol,  count  Capri,  then  proceeded 
into  the  valleys,  assembled  all  the  syndics  and  pastors,  and 
informed  them  that  the  pope  and  the  duke  were  resolved 
that  the  monks  should  be  established  in  the  mountains ; 
and  that  if  the  Waldenses  would  not  admit  them  volunta- 
rily, force  would  be  employed.  "  To-morrow,"  he  said, 
"I  will  have  mass  performed  at  Bobbi." 

On  the  morrow,  accordingly,  he  proceeded  with  the 
Romish  ecclesiastics  to  Bobbi ;  but  every  door  and  window 
was  closed,  and  not  a  single  person  was  visible.  He  sum- 
moned the  syndic,  and  ordered  him  to  have  a  stable,  at  all 
events,  opened  for  his  service ;  but  the  syndic  replied,  that 
his  authority  ceased  at  the  threshold  of  private  houses. 
"  Well,  then,"  exclaimed  the  count,  "  I  will  force  open 
your  own  house." — "Your  Lordship  will  reflect  before 
you  act  thus,"  returned  the  syndic,  with  respectful 
calmness.  The  count  did  reflect,  that  the  defenders  of  the 
village,  though  not  visible,  were  none  the  less  near,  and 


THE    KEION    OF    CHARLES    EM  AN  TEL.  |53 

he  accordingly  contented  himself  -with  performing  mass  on 
the  high  road,  after  which  he  withdrew.  Two  days  after- 
wards he  proceeded  to  Angrogna  on  a  similar  mission,  and 
had  precisely  the  same  reception,  with  the  same  result. 
Towards  the  close  of  January,  1G29,  he  went  to  La  Torre, 
in  company  with  a  French  gentleman,  M.  de  Serres,  con- 
voked the  syndics,  and  attempted  to  intimidate  them  into 
receiving  the  monks,  but  to  no  purpose.  On  the  contrary 
the  Waldenses  shortly  afterwards  assembled  in  arms,  sur- 
rounded the  habitations  in  which  the  monks  had  established 
themselves,  and  called  upon  them  to  withdraw.  They 
refused ;  whereupon,  it  being  prohibited  to  the  men  to  lay 
hands  upon  them,  the  women  approached,  forced  open  the 
doors,  and  some  of  these  robust  mountaineers,  accustomed 
to  carry  heavy  burdens,  shouldering  the  poor  ecclesiastics 
like  so  many  bundles  of  wood,  carried  them  off.  Their 
furniture,  goods,  copes,  reliques,  &c.,  were  then  packed  in 
carts,  and  transported  beyond  the  limits  of  the  commune 
after  the  owners.  The  clergy  complained  to  the  court, 
and  the  Waldenses  sent  deputies  to  defend  them.  The 
result  Avas  an  edict,  dated  22d  February,  1629,  by  which 
the  former  concessions  to  the  Waldenses  were  confirmed, 
and  the  vexations  practised  on  them  ordered  to  be  discon- 
tinued. 

On  the  16th  July,  1630,  Charles  Emanuel  died,  aged 
sixty-eight  years  and  a  half,  after  a  reign  of  half  a  cen- 
tury ;  and  at  his  death,  France  took  possession  of  Savoy 
and  part  of  Piedmont. 


Cljiiptn  /iftrnitl;. 


THE  PLAGUE  AND  OTHER  CALAMITIES. 

In  1629,  the  year  after  the  famine,  tlie  poor  inhabitants 
of  the  Waldensian  valleys,  Avho,  having  no  harvests  of  their 
own,  were  in  the  habit  of  repairing  to  the  rich  domains  of 
Piedmont,  and  giving  their  services  in  exchange  for  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  corn,  were  deprived  of  this  resource,  by 
the  popish  priests,  who,  from  the  pulpits,  forbade  their 
congregations  to  employ  a  single  protestant  labourer,  and 
even  themselves  threatened  to  kill  any  follower  of  the  "re- 
ligion" whom  they  should  find  in  their  fields. 

On  the  23d  of  August,  of  the  same  year,  at  eight  in 
the  morning,  a  formidable  storm  of  rain,  suddenly  fell  upon 
the  Col  Julien,  and  created  an  inundation  on  both  sides  of  the 
mountain.  The  villages  of  Prali  and  Bobbi  were  so  sud- 
denly invaded  by  the  torrent,  that  the  inhabitants  had 
scarcely  time  to  escape,  and  many  houses  were  utterly 
destroyed.  In  September,  there  came  a  wind  of  intense 
coldness,  accompanied  by  a  dry  cloud  or  mist,  and  the 
chestnut  crop  was  utterly  annihilated;  then  there  came  a 
second  inundation  of  rain,  which  destroyed  all  the  grapes. 
On  the  12th  of  that  month,  the  Waldensian  ministers 
assembled  in  solemn  synod,  in  testimony  of  their  fraternal 
union,  little  deeming  that  they  would  never  again  meet  in 
(lu4) 


THE    PLAGUE    AND    OTHER    CALAMITIES.      155 

tills  workl,  and  that  of  tliose  fifteen  pastors  t\YO  onljAvould, 
ere  a  few  months  elapsed,  survive  tlieir  brethren. 

In  1G30,  a  French  army,  placed,  by  cardinal  Richelieu, 
under  the  command  of  three  marshals  of  France,  De 
Schomberg,  De  la  Force,  and  De  Crequi,  to  oppose  the 
projects  of  Savoy  on  Montferrat,  made  its  appearance  in 
the  Waldensian  valleys.  The  Waldenses,  having  in  vain 
appealed  to  the  duke  for  succours,  sent  deputies  to  the 
marshal  de  la  Force,  who  was  encamped  with  a  detach- 
ment at  Briqueras.  "Yield  yourselves  to  the  king," 
replied  he,  "  and  we  will  protect  you ;  otherwise,  we  will 
kill,  burn,  exterminate  you."  Left  without  resource,  the 
Waldenses  capitulated  (5th  April),  on  the  assurance  that 
all  their  privileges  should  be  respected,  and  that  they 
should  not  be  required  to  serve  against  their  sovereign. 

Towards  the  close  of  April,  the  king  of  France  set  out 
from  Lyon,  with  all  his  court,  to  march  upon  Savoy.  A 
deputation  of  Waldenses  waited  upon  him  at  Moutiers,  and 
obtained  the  confirmation  of  their  privileges.  By  the 
treaty  of  Ratisbon,  which  terminated  this  war,  the  valleys 
of  Luzerna  and  San  Martin  were  restored  to  Piedmont, 
but  those  of  Perosa  and  Pragela,  with  Pignerol,  remained 
in  the  dominion  of  France. 

In  this  same  deplorable  year,  1630,  a  scourge  still  more 
terrible  than  war  deprived  the  AValdensian  valleys  of  nearly 
two-thirds  of  their  population.  The  heat  was  excessive  at 
the  time  when  the  army  of  Richelieu  entered  the  valleys ; 
in  that  army  were  many  volunteers,  who  had  fled  from 
France  to  escape  the  plague,  which  then  raged  in  that 
country ;  but,  in  their  flight,  they  had  still  brought  the 
seeds  of  the  pestilence  with  them.  In  the  first  week  of 
May,  this  terrible  malady  manifested  itself  in  the  village 
of  Porte,  near   Perosa.     Next  it   appeared   at   San  Ger- 


156  THE    WALDENSES. 

niano,  then  at  Prali,  and  soon  it  spread  throughout  all 
the  valleys.  The  pastors  immediately,  pursuant  to  the 
custom  of  their  church,  assembled  together  to  consult  the 
Lord,  to  seek  inspiration  from  prayer  and  meditation,  and 
to  discuss,  one  with  the  other,  the  course  they  should  pur- 
sue in  this  alarming  conjuncture.  This  meeting  took  place 
at  Pramol.  In  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  pestilence 
broke  out  at  Pramol  also,  and  the  pastors  began  to  hold 
their  preachings  in  the  open  fields.  In  June,  the  com- 
mune of  Angrogna  was  invaded  by  the  pestilence,  and  on 
the  11th  of  July,  there  fell  beneath  its  stroke  the  pas- 
tor of  San  Giovanni,  and  the  pastor  of  Meano ;  on  the 
12th  the  pastor  of  Prali ;  on  the  24th,  the  pastor  of 
Angrogna.  Before  the  1st  of  August,  seven  other  Wal- 
densian  ministers  died.  On  the  2d  of  August,  the  six 
surviving  ministers  met  on  Mont  Saumette,  an  isolated 
eminence  in  the  centre  of  the  three  valleys,  near  La  Va- 
chera.  Here,  after  weeping  and  praying,  they  distributed 
among  themselves  the  care  of  the  vacant  churches ;  but,  in 
a  little  while,  three  of  the  six  followed  their  brethren  ;  and 
the  three  survivors  then  held  a  conference  on  the  heights 
of  Angrogna,  with  deputies  from  all  the  parishes  of  the 
valleys,  to  determine  upon  the  means  of  providing  for  the 
celebration  of  worship.  Letters  were  despatched  to  Con- 
stantinople, recalling  Antony  Leger ;  to  Geneva,  for  a  sup- 
ply of  protestant  clergy  ;  to  Grenoble,  imploring  the  pastors 
of  Dauphiny  to  come  and  console  and  strengthen  the  Wal- 
densian  church,  thus  cruelly  tried. 

There  remained  but  one  pastor  for  each  of  the  three 
valleys  ;  Peter  Gilles  in  that  of  Luzerna  ;  Valerius  Gros, 
in  that  of  St.  Martin;  and  John  Barthelemy,  in  that  of 
Perosa.  But  on  the  22d  of  April,  1631,  the  plague 
seized  upon  John  Barthelemy  also,  and  on  the  25th  he  died  ; 


PLAGUE    AND    OTHER    CALAMITIES.  I57 

SO  that  upon  the  venerable  ministers  Gilles  and  Gros, 
already  worn  down  by  years  and  infirmities,  devolved  the 
care  of  all  the  churches  of  the  Waldenscs. 

The  mysterious  and  terrible  scourge,  Avhich  had  subsided 
during  the  winter,  rose  up  again,  with  renewed  force,  in 
the  spring  of  1631,  and  extended  its  ravages  to  the  hills 
of  Angrogna  and  Bobbi,  which  it  had  before  spared. 
More  than  12,000  persons  died  in  the  valleys;  in  La 
Torre  alone,  upwards  of  fifty  families  became  completely 
extinct.  The  crops  rotted  in  the  fields,  for  there  was  no 
one  to  reap  them ;  the  fruits  fell  from  the  trees,  for  there 
was  no  one  to  gather  them.  During  the  summer  heats, 
horsemen  were  seen  to  fall  from  their  saddles  to  the 
ground,  seized  with  sudden  death.  "The  highways," 
says  Gilles,  "  were  so  encumbered  with  the  dead  bodies 
of  men  and  animals,  that  they  were  almost  impassable. 
Many  estates  were  abandoned,  for  want,  not  merely 
of  cultivators,  but  of  proprietors.  Towns  and  villages, 
lately  full  of  life  and  occupation,  of  merchants,  artisans, 
labourers,  became  silent  and  desert.  Whole  families,  in 
numberless  instances,  disappeared  ;  there  was  no  family 
Avhich  did  not  lose  some  of  its  members.  The  venerable 
minister,  Gilles,  lost  his  four  elder  sons,  and  being,  with 
the  exception  of  Valerius  Gros,  the  sole  surviving  pastor 
of  the  valleys,  found  his  duties  augment  with  his  afflictions  ; 
but  God  gave  him  strength  to  bear  his  double  burden  of 
calamity  and  labour.  He  went  through  all  the  parishes, 
preached  twice  every  Sunday,  and  once  at  least,  every 
other  day ;  visited  the  sick,  and  consoled  the  afflicted,  calm 
and  serene  amid  his  dying  flock,  to  whom  he  communi- 
cated his  own  unshakable  confidence  in  Him  who  raises  up 
the  fallen  and  heals  those  whom  he  had  wounded.  His 
indefatigable  devotedness  carried  him  through  every 
14 


•J58  THE    W  A  L  I)  E  N  S  E  S . 

danger ;  and  he  was  preserved  to  the  Waldensian  church, 
and  with  him  that  most  complete  monument  of  the  ancient 
Waldensian  history,  which  he  has  transmitted  to  us  in  his 
chronicle,  so  rich  in  details  respecting  an  epoch  otherwise 
but  little  known. 

The  pastor  Brunet  was  the  first  who  hastened  from 
Geneva  to  succor  the  valleys  ;  he  arrived  in  December, 
1G30,  the  month  before  the  cessation  of  the  plague. 
Other  ministers  of  the  gospel  followed  ;  but  none  of  them 
could  administer  divine  service  in  the  Italian  tongue, 
which  had  hitherto  been  the  language  of  Waldensian 
preaching  and  spiritual  instruction.  It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  to  have  the  service  performed  in  French  ;  and 
as  the  ancient  language  of  the  Waldenses  is  a  dialect 
between  French  and  Italian,  the  people  soon  became 
accustomed  to  the  new  formulary.  From  this  period  date 
the  regular  relations  which  have  ever  since  been  main- 
tained between  the  Waldensian  church  and  that  of  Geneva. 

The  most  urgent  functions  which  the  new  pastors  had 
first  to  accomplish  in  the  valleys  was  the  re-organization 
of  their  churches,  so  cruelly  decimated.  "It  was  a  marvel 
unprecendented  in  these  countries,"  says  Gilles,  "to  see 
the  multitude  of  marriages  that  took  place  at  this  time. 
Everywhere  the  plague  had  taken  from  parents  their 
children,  from  children  their  parents,  from  the  husband 
his  wife,  from  the  wife  her  husband ;  so  that  all  being 
desolate,  each  sought  out  a  brother  or  a  sister  with  whom 
to  raise  up  the  fallen  habitations  and  to  create  a  new 
home." 

War,  the  other  scourge  from  which  the  valleys  had 
suffered  so  grievously,  disappeared  shortly  after  the 
plague.  On  the  6th  of  April,  1G31,  Victor  Amadeus 
signed,  at  Queyras,  a  treaty  of  peace,  by  which  he  resumed 


THE    TLAGUE   AND    OTHER    CALAMITIES.      159 

possession  of  all  bis  states,  and  obtained  some  towns  in 
Montferrat,  as  an  equivalent  for  Pignerol  and  tbe  valley 
of  Perosa,  wbicb  remained  in  tbe  bands  of  France. 

On  tbe  eve  of  bis  return  to  Turin,  be  received,  at 
Carignano,  a  deputation  from  tbe  Waldenses,  -wbom  be 
received  witb  mucb  kindness,  saying  to  tbem  ;  "  Be  good 
subjects  to  me,  and  I  will  be  a  good  prince  to  you."  Tbe 
prior  of  Luzerna,  Rorengo,  and  tbe  superior  of  tbe  monas- 
tery of  La  Torre,  Fra  Paolo,  no  sooner  beard  of  tbis 
favourable  reception,  tban  tbey  applied  tbemselves  to 
counteract  it,  and  all  sorts  of  offences  were  alleged  at 
court  against  tbe  Waldenses ;  so  tbat,  wben  anotber 
deputation  of  tbese  waited  on  tbe  prince  (8tb  September, 
1632),  to  solicit  from  bim  tbe  formal  ratification  of  tbeir 
privileges,  be  informed  tbem  tbat  an  oflBcer  of  state  was 
about  to  proceed  to  tbe  valleys  to  inquire  into  tbe  offences 
wbicb  bad  been  laid  to  tbeir  cbarge,  and  tbat  to  tbis 
officer  tbey  migbt  state  tbeir  grievances.  Soon  after- 
wards, accordingly,  a  commissioner,  accompanied  by 
Rorengo,  visited  all  tbe  valleys,  collected  information,  and 
received  complaints.  Tbe  nature  of  bis  report  is  unknown  • 
but,  in  tbe  following  year,  anotber  commissioner,  Cbristo- 
pber  Fauzon,  summoned  a  meeting  of  Waldensian  delegates 
at  La  Torre,  and  proceeded  first  to  barangue  and  tben  to 
question  them.  He  told  tbem  tbey  were  cbarged  witb 
baving  recently  establisbcd  tbemselves  at  Luzerna  and 
Bubiana  ;  tbey  proved  tbat  tbey  bad  been  established  in 
botb  places  from  time  immemorial.  He  contested  tbe 
rigbt  of  tbe  parishioners  of  San  Giovanni  to  ring  a  bell  for 
the  purpose  of  summoning  tbe  faithful  to  church  :  tbey 
showed  that  this  custom  had  been  also  immemorial.  Ulti- 
mately, be  demanded  from  tbe  Waldenses  a  written  statement 
of  the  proofs  by  which  they   assumed   to  establish  their 


100  THE    AVALD  EN  SES. 

right  to  celebrate  the  protestant  worship,  in  each  of  their 
parishes.  After  some  hesitation,  for  the  Waldenses 
feared  a  new  snare,  the  document  was  furnished,  and  the 
commissioner  quitted  the  valleys.  No  communication  was 
made  with  reference  to  the  written  statement  supplied 
hj  the  Waldenses,  and  things  remained  in  their  previous 
condition. 


Cljiiptrr  li.rtrnitlj. 


MORE    MARTYRS. 

In  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the  Christians  of  Pro- 
vence and  of  the  valleys  placed  themselves  in  communica- 
tion with  the  reformers.  The  consequent  animadversion 
of  the  church  first  assailed  the  Provencals,  about  Avignon. 
The  Rome  of  the  ■s\-est  found  it  necessary  to  combat  the 
religious  awakening  which  menaced  her  predominance,  and 
the  inquisitor  Giovanni  de  Roma  raised  the  first  martyr- 
pyres  on  the  slopes  of  Leberon.  The  proceedings  against 
these  victims  made  known  the  presence,  among  the  heretics 
of  Provence,  of  many  persons  who  had  come  from  the  val- 
leys of  Piedmont.  Hereupon  the  count  of  xiix  wrote  to 
the  senate  of  Turin,  and  the  senate  appointed  a  commis- 
sioner, Pantaleone  Bersori,  to  proceed  to  Provence,  and 
inquire  further  into  the  matter.  Bersori  returned  from 
Provence  with  numerous  and  precise  data  as  to  the  leading 
Waldensian  families  in  Piedmont,  and  the  high  antiquity 
and  extensive  ramifications  of  the  ministry  of  the  barbas, 
accomplishing  its  work  in  silence  and  obscurity,  that  it 
might  bear  more  fruit. 

Bersori,  furnished  with  the  information  he  had  collected 

in  Provence,  proceeded  to  the  valleys,  and  continued  there 

the   inquisitorial   proceedings   begun   in   Provence   by  the 

court  of  Aix.     There  was  no  want  of  witnesses  ready  to 

11*  L  (101) 


Igr  THE    AVALDENSES. 

testify  to  the  evangelical  faith.  One  of  these,  Bernardino 
Fea,  of  San  Segonzo,  upon  being  interrogated  by  the  judge 
as  to  the  communications  he  had  had  with  the  heretics, 
replied : 

"  When  I  was  at  BriqueraS,  in  1529,  I  met  Louis  Turin, 
of  San  Giovanni,  who  took  me  with  him  to  his  house. 
There,  another  inhabitant  of  San  Giovanni,  Catalan 
Girardet,  who  came  in,  invited  us  to  go  to  La  Torre,  where, 
he  said,  we  should  hear  good  things ;  Louis  Turin  also 
requested  me  to  go,  and  we  went. 

"  On  arriving  at  La  Torre,  Catalan  conducted  us  to  the 
house  of  Chabert  Ughet,  where,  in  a  large  room,  we  found 
a  number  of  persons  assembled.  A  barba,  named  Philip, 
was  preaching,  and,  after  his  sermon,  he  questioned  me, 
and  then  instructed  me  in  various  points  of  their  religion." 

"What  did  he  say?" 

"  That  there  is  no  salivation  except  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
that  we  ought  to  do  good  works,  not  in  order  that  we  may 
be  saved,  but  because  we  have  been  saved." 

As  this  witness  had  not  ceased  to  attend  mass,  he  was 
not  prosecuted ;  but  Catalan  Girardet  was  arrested,  and, 
on  his  refusing  to  apostatize,  was  condemned  to  be  burned 
alive.  He  died  firm  and  serene,  his  forehead  radiant,  amid 
the  flames  that  were  devouring  him,  with  the  blessed 
assurance  of  the  salvation  he  had  received,  and  of  the 
eternal  happiness  he  was  about  to  receive. 

Shortly  after  the  count  de  la  Trinity  had  put  the  Wal- 
densian  valleys  to  fire  and  sword,  the  pastor  of  Prali, 
Martin,  was  visited  by  two  men  who  had  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  seigneurs  du  Perrier,  those  malignant  foes  of 
the  Waldenses,  the  cruel  and  treacherous  Truchets.  The 
pastor  of  Prali  was  a  Frenchman  ;  his  two  visitors 
announced   themselves  as   also  Frenchmen ;  and  Martin 


MORE     MARTYRS.  163 

received  them  as  countrymen.  They  expressed  a  desire 
to  enter  the  reformed  church,  and  the  good  pastor  invited 
them  to  remain  his  guests,  till  he  had  shown  them  the  way 
of  salvation.  The  parishioners,  Avho  distrusted  these  two 
men,  partly  from  instinct,  partly  from  the  fact  that  they 
were  recognized  as  having  not  long  before  borne  arms 
against  the  Waldenses,  entreated  Martin  to  be  on  his 
guard ;  but  the  simple  and  excellent  man  believed  in  the 
sincerity  of  his  guests'  conversion,  and  appealed  to  the 
Christian  sentiments  of  his  flock  for  a  more  charitable  con- 
struction. The  population  of  Prali,  however,  remained 
full  of  anxiety,  and  saw  with  regret  and  apprehension  the 
two  men  still  abiding  with  their  beloved  pastor,  who  had 
no  family,  and  lived  in  a  retired  spot.  At  length,  the 
pastor  did  not  make  his  wonted  appearance  at  the  church 
for  the  celebration  of  divine  service.  The  people,  in  a 
state  of  fearful  suspense,  hastened  to  his  house.  The  door 
was  closed  ;  they  knocked ;  no  one  replied.  Some  of  the 
parishioners  forced  their  way  into  the  cottage  through  a 
window,  and  in  an  instant  their  cries  of  anguish  announced 
a  deplorable  catastrophe.  The  pastor  Martin  lay  lifeless, 
bathed  in  his  own  blood.  The  monsters,  whom  he  had 
treated  as  children,  had  cut  his  throat,  stripped  the  house, 
and  fled.  The  Waldenses  hastened  in  pursuit  of  the  assas- 
sins, but  could  discover  no  traces  of  them.  Some  time 
afterwards,  however,  they  audaciously  returned  to  the  val- 
leys in  the  service  of  the  seigneurs  du  Perrier,  who  thus 
manifested  themselves  the  accomplices,  and  who  had  pro- 
bably been  the  instigators  of  this  odious  murder. 

So  fierce  was  the  hostility  of  the  persecutors,  that  Bar- 
beri,  the  duke's  commissioner,  absolutely  arrested  and 
imprisoned  the  secretary  of  an  embassy  sent  by  the  elector 
palatine  to  Emanuel  Philibert,  for  the  purpose  of  inter- 


1G4 


THE    AV  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 


cedint'  with  Lira  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses.  The  only 
pretext  for  seizing  the  secretary  was,  that  he  was  a  pro- 
testant  pastor ;  he  was,  of  course,  immediately  released. 
In  a  letter  which  this  official  addressed  to  the  Waldenses, 
he  states — "The  chancellor  Stropiano,  in  reply  to  our 
intercession  for  you,  accuses  you  of  being  disturbers  of  the 
public  peace;  says  that  the  Waldenses  are  conspiring 
against  the  state ;  and  cites,  in  support  of  this  accusation, 
the  case  of  nine  Waldenses  who  lately  assembled  in  a  fron- 
tier town,  and  whom  he  arrested  as  conspirators."  Now 
the  simple  fact,  as  to  this  pretended  conspiracy,  is,  that  a 
a  few  Christians  having  met  for  worship  in  a  private  house 
at  Bourg,  in  Bresse,  were  engaged  in  prayer,  when  a 
number  of  archers  surrounded  the  house,  and  took  them 
prisoners.  As  it  was  necessary  to  devise  some  charge  to 
justify  this  gross  violation  of  private  right,  the  Waldenses 
were  accused  of  being  suspected  of  meeting  to  conspire 
against  the  state  ;  and  as  they  could  not  disprove  that  they 
were  suspected,  they  were  sent  to  the  galleys. 

The  Waldenses  of  Dauphiny  and  Provence  paid  at  this 
time,  in  like  manner,  their  tribute  of  martyrs  to  the  con- 
stant testimony  of  the  Christian  church  against  antichrist. 

The  valley  of  La  Grave,  which  slopes  from  Mont  Pel- 
voux  in  direction  opposite  to  Val  Louise,  had  been  enlight- 
ened by  some  wandering  rays  of  the  evangelical  light,  the 
focus  of  which  was  in  the  centre  of  the  Waldensian  valleys. 
A  pedlar  of  Villar,  a  remote  village  of  this  valley,  after 
having  taken  his  family  to  Geneva,  to  be  there  in- 
structed and  led  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  himself  returned 
to  France  in  pursuit  of  his  trade.  Being  a  skilful  worker 
in  coral,  Bomeyer  proceeded  towards  Marseilles,  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  a  supply  of  that  article,  and  on  his 


MORE    MARTYRS.  165 

road  endeavoured  to  dispose  of  the  coral  ornaments  he  had 
with  him. 

At  Draguignan,  he  showed  them  to  a  goldsmith  of  the 
town,  named  Lanteaume,  who  greatly  admired  them,  and 
was  desirous  of  purchasing  them  ;  but  the  parties,  not  being 
able  to  agree  about  the  price,  separated.  There  was  at 
this  time  at  Draguignan,  the  baron  do  Lauris,  son-in-law  of 
Menier  d'Oppede,  whose  name  is  written  in  letters  of  blood 
in  the  history  of  the  Waldenses.  Lanteaume,  loath  to  see 
the  property  quit  the  place,  insidiously  counselled  Romeyer 
to  show  it  to  the  baron  de  Lauris,  who,  being  a  rich  seig- 
neur, might  be  disposed  to  purchase  it.  The  cupidity  of 
the  baron  having  been  aroused  by  a  sight  of  the  ornaments, 
Lanteaume  went  and  informed  him  that  the  owner  was  a 
Lutheran  ;  and  as  confiscation  of  goods  always  accompanied 
a  sentence  of  death,  the  two  accomplices  came  at  once  to 
an  understanding,  llomeyer  was  arrested  by  order  of  De 
Lauris,  in  April,  1558.  After  various  private  interroga- 
tories, in  which  he  made  no  secret  whatever  of  his  religious 
faith,  the  tribunal  of  Draguignan  assembled  for  his  trial. 
An  Observantine  monk,  on  the  preceding  day,  celebrated 
a  mass  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  ''in  order,"  as  he  said,  "that 
the  Holy  Ghost  might  inspire  the  judges  to  condemn  the 
cursed  Lutheran  to  the  flames."  But  his  mass  did  not 
produce  the  effect  he  desired ;  for  a  young  advocate,  ad- 
dressing the  tribunal,  pointed  out  that  Romeyer  had  been 
guilty  of  no  legal  offence ;  that  he  had  neither  preached 
nor  dogmatized  in  France ;  that  he  was  a  foreigner ;  was 
only  occupied  in  Provence  with  his  trade  ;  and  that  justice, 
instead  of  condemning,  ought  to  protect  him.  The  whole 
bar  supported  this  argument.  The  judges  were  half  of 
them  for  an  acquittal,  half  for  condemnation,  and  the  pris- 
oner was  relegated  to  his  dungeon.     One  of  the  judges, 


2g(j  THE    WALDENSES. 

who  had  voted  for  condemnation,  had  previously  been  with 
the  prisoner  in  his  cell,  seeking  to  intimidate  him,  and  fail- 
ing therein,  had  pronounced  against  him  from  the  bench. 

Upon  the  decision  of  the  judges  being  made  known,  the 
Observantine  monk,  who  had  made  a  sort  of  personal  mat- 
ter of  the  case,  and  who  saw  the  credit  of  his  masses  and 
his  prayers  singularly  compromised  in  public  opinion  by 
this  result  of  the  trial,  had  the  bells  of  his  monastery  rung, 
harangued  the  mob  who  assembled  at  the  sound,  and 
insisted  that  good  catholics  should  not  permit  an  infamous 
heretic,  a  Lutheran,  an  accursed  soul,  to  pollute,  with  im- 
punity, the  devout  town  of  Draguignan  with  his  presence. 
Having  thus  excited  the  populace,  the  worthy  monk  pro- 
ceeded to  the  official  and  consuls  of  the  town,  representing 
that  their  honour  was  concerned  in  preserving  intact  the 
excellent  reputation  of  their  dear  city ;  and  then,  all 
together,  followed  by  the  infuriated  mob,  went  to  the  ma- 
gistrates, vociferating  that  unless  they  condemned  the 
heretic  to  be  burned  alive,  they  themselves  would  denounce 
them  to  the  parliament,  the  king,  the  pope,  and  to  all  the 
powers  of  the  earth,  to  procure  their  destruction.  Such  is 
the  religious  fervour  of  popery  ! 

The  lieutenant  of  the  king,  who,  at  this  time,  was  the 
representative,  in  each  district,  of  the  administration, 
invoked  the  respect  due  to  judicial  forms,  which  ought  not 
to  be  set  aside,  even  against  a  heretic. 

"  Kill  him  !  kill  him  !"  cried  the  people.  "  Burn  him  ! 
burn  him  !"  cried  the  people. 

The  magistrate,  unable  to  appease  the  tumult,  promised 
to  proceed  to  Aix,  and  lay  the  matter  before  the  parlia- 
ment. 

The  populace  was,  thereupon,  about  to  disperse;  but  the 
monk,  not  satisfied,  required  that  four  persons  should  go  to 


MORE    M  A  K  T  Y  R  S  .  167 

Aix,  at  the  expense  of  the  town,  and  urge  the  condemna- 
tion of  Romeyer.  As  these  four  deputies  were  on  their 
wav,  they  met  one  of  the  presidents  of  the  court  of 
Aix,  who  said  to  them  :  "  Surely  you  need  not  so  many 
formalities  to  burn  a  heretic  !"  The  deputation,  upon  this 
hint,  turned  back,  and  proceeded  to  expedite  the  sentence 
of  death.  The  lieutenant,  who  pursued  his  way  to  Aix, 
laid  the  matter  before  the  court,  and  the  court  issued  an 
order  that  the  court  at  Draguignan  should  not  try  the  pris- 
oner; but  fanaticism  was  not  to  be  baulked  of  its  prey; 
Barberi,  the  attorney-general,  repairing  to  Aix,  procured 
the  withdrawal  of  the  prohibition,  and  permission  for  the 
judges  at  Draguignan  to  try  the  prisoner,  or  in  other, 
words,  judicially  to  assassinate  him. 

He  was  condemned  to  be  first  racked,  then  broken  on 
the  wheel,  and,  lastly,  burned  to  death  by  a  slow  fire.  He 
might  have  relieved  himself  from  all  these  tortures,  by 
abjuration  ;  but  the  monk,  who  was  sent  to  make  this  pro- 
position to  him,  returned  with  the  announcement  that  he 
had  found  him  perti7iax,  infallibly  accursed.  Forthwith, 
from  all  the  pulpits  round  about,  it  was  announced  that, 
on  the  16th  of  May,  there  would  take  place  the  public  exe- 
cution of  an  atrocious  Lutheran ;  and  in  the  town  of  Dra- 
guignan itself,  proclamation  was  made  by  sound  of  trumpet, 
that  every  good  catholic  should  bring  a  billet  of  wood  to 
form  the  funeral  pyre. 

On  the  appointed  morning,  the  deputy-lieutenant,  several 
judges,  lay  and  ecclesiastic,  and  the  consuls  of  the  town, 
proceeded  to  the  dungeon  of  the  prisonei-,  to  apply  the 
torture.  They  displayed  before  him  the  rack,  the  cords, 
the  wedges,  the  iron  bars,  all  the  instruments  of  torture 
invented  by  the  successors  of  the  martyr-apostle. 


ICyii  THE     WALDENSES. 

"  Denounce  your  accomplices,  abjure  your  errors,  and 
save  yourself  these  torments,"  said  the  deputy-lieutenant. 

"I  have  no  accomplices,"  replied  Romeyer;  "and  I 
have  nothing  to  abjure,  for  I  profess  only  the  law  of 
Christ.  You  call  my  profession  perverse  and  erroneous ; 
but,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  God  will  proclaim  it,  against 
its  transgressors,  just  and  holy."  Thereupon,  relates 
Crispin,  he  was  put  on  the  rack,  and  cruelly  stretched  by 
the  cords:  in  his  anguish,  he  called  unto  God  to  have  pity 
on  him,  for  the  love  of  Jesus.  "Implore  the  Virgin," 
cried  the  idolaters.  "  There  is  but  one  mediator,"  replied 
the  sufferer,  "even  Jesus:  oh,  God,  mercy!"  and  he 
fainted ;  for,  upon  his  refusal  to  invoke  the  Virgin,  the 
tormentors  had  wrested  his  limbs  more  cruelly  than  before. 
Fearing  that  he  might  die  before  he  was  burned,  the  monks 
and  priests  disengaged  his  mangled  frame  from  the  wheel ; 
the  bones  of  his  legs  and  arms  were  broken,  and  their  frac- 
tured points  came  through  his  flesh.  Some  cordial  was 
given  to  him  to  restore  animation,  and  he  was  then  carried 
to  the  place  of  final  execution,  and  fastened  by  a  chain  to 
the  post  which  rose  amid  the  pyre. 

"Invoke  the  Virgin  and  the  saints,"  thundered  a  monk. 
The  poor  pedlar  could  only  reply  by  a  faint  movement  of 
the  head,  in  the  negative.  The  executioner,  thereupon  set 
fire  to  the  pile.  At  first,  being  chiefly  composed  of 
branches  and  brushwood,  it  flamed  furiously  ;  but  soon  sub- 
siding into  a  mass,  the  martyr  hung  suspended  from  the 
stake  over  the  devouring  heap ;  his  lower  limbs  were 
scorched,  his  entrails  came  forth,  and  his  poor  frame 
was  already  consumed  below,  when  his  lips  were  still 
seen  moving,  emitting,  indeed,  no  sound,  but  testifying, 
within,  a  last  invocation  of  the  martyr  to  his  God,  a 
last  appeal  to  that  Christ  who  had  died  for  him. 


MORE    MARTYRS.  IQ() 

I  may  here  give  an  illustration  of  the  arrogant  opposi- 
tion M'hich  the  Inquisition,  from  time  to  time,  manifested 
towards  even  the  crowned  heads  who  sought  to  save  its 
victims. 

According  to  the  convention  at  Cavour,  in  1561,  be- 
tween Emanuel  Philibert  and  the  Waldenses,  the  latter 
were  in  no  sort  to  be  proceeded  against  for  any  acts  which 
had  taken  place  during  the  war  of  1560.  A  man  of  San 
Giovanni,  named  Gaspar  Orsclli,  having  been  taken  pris- 
oner at  that  epoch,  had,  to  save  his  life,  promised  to  cathol- 
icize ;  but,  upon  peace  being  concluded,  he  had  returned  to 
the  open  profession  of  the  faith  which,  at  heart,  he  had 
never  abandoned.  The  inquisitors  thereupon  had  him 
seized,  and  confined  him  in  the  dungeons  of  the  holy  office 
at  Turin.  The  Waldenses  claimed  him,  in  the  name  of  the 
amnesty,  and  the  duke  ordered  the  inquisitors  to  release 
him ;  but  they  refused  to  obey.  The  edict  of  Cavour  was 
recalled  to  them.  "  Our  order  is  not  subject  to  the  secu- 
lar power,"  replied  the  worthy  Dominicans,  who  yet  were 
ever  ready  to  make  use  of  the  power  they  refused  to  recog- 
nize. Philibert,  indignant  at  this  insolent  rebellion,  sent 
them  word  that  all  the  frocked  legions  in  the  world  should 
not  make  him  break  his  word,  and  that,  unless  they  forth- 
with released  the  captive,  he  would  batter  their  house  down 
upon  their  heads. 

At  this  unexpected  menace,  the  holy  office  forthwith 
gave  way.  Orselli  was  released,  and  the  duke,  to  whom 
all  honour  is  due  for  his  firmness  on  this  occasion,  wrote 
(20th  of  November,  1570)  to  the  Waldenses,  assuring  them 
of  his  continued  protection. 

When  liberty  of  conscience  Avas  suppressed  in  Piedmont, 
the  noble  family  of  Bazana,  among  others  retired  to  the 
valley  of  Luzerna,  where  the  evangelical  worship  was  still 
15 


IjQ  THE    W  ALDENSES. 

permitted.  A  member  of  this  family,  Sebastian  Bazana, 
who  had  received  his  spiritual  training  from  the  lips  of  the 
pastor  Gilles,  destined  afterwards  to  become  the  narrator 
of  his  martyrdom,  had,  after  the  death  of  his  father,  set- 
tled with  his  aged  mother,  his  two  brothers,  and  their 
families,  at  La  Torre.  There  his  zeal  for  the  Christian 
faith  drew  upon  him  the  animosity  of  the  monks,  who, 
watching  for  the  occasion,  had  him  seized  at  Carmagnola, 
26th  of  April,  1622,  and  threw  him  into  the  dungeons  of 
the  castle  there,  whence,  after  an  imprisonment  of  four 
months,  he  was  transferred  to  those  of  the  senate  at  Turin. 
The  courageous  captive  was  not  without  intercessors  to 
solicit  his  pardon,  nor  Christian  brethren  to  console  him. 
The  latter  alone  were  successful. 

"  Greatly  doth  God  favour  me  by  your  letters  and  your 
prayers,"  he  wrote  to  Gilles  on  the  14th  of  July,  "for  all 
good  comes  to  us  from  him,  even  friendship  itself."  From 
the  dungeons  of  the  senate  he  was  transferred  to  those  of 
the  Inquisition,  at  whose  gates,  as  at  those  of  the  lower 
hell,  those  who  enter  may  leave  all  hope  behind.  At  first 
his  reception  was  of  the  most  flattering  description,  so  far 
as  honied  w'ords  and  professions  of  intense  interest  in  his 
welfare  might  go ;  but  the  adopted  son  of  the  valleys  knew 
these  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing  too  thoroughly  to  heed 
their  allurements,  and  the  firm  calmness  with  which  he 
adhered  to  his  convictions  soon  aroused  the  wrath  of  the 
persecutors.  The  wolves  showed  their  teeth.  Menaces 
of  the  most  cruel  character  were  soon  followed  up  by  still 
more  cruel  execution :  after  threat  came  torture ;  but  the 
victim  yielded  not.  Many  powerful  intercessions  were 
made  in  favour  of  poor  Bazana.  Among  others,  Lesdi- 
guieres  himself,  though  he  had,  some  time  before,  become 
a  papist,   wrote   thus  (l-^th  February,  1623)  to   the  duke 


MORE    MARTYRS.  171 

of  Savoy :  "  I  solicit  from  your  highness  the  life  and  lib- 
erty of  one  Sebastian  Bazana,  a  prisoner  in  your  city  of 
Turin.  He  is  a  man  against  whom  there  is  no  reproach, 
save  his  religion  ;  and  if  all  who  profess  that  religion  are 
to  be  punished  with  death,  the  great  Christian  princes,  with 
your  highness  yourself,  would  have  some  difficulty  in  repop- 
ulating  their  states.  The  king  of  France  has  taken  all  his 
subjects  professing  that  religion  into  his  peace,  and  I  would 
counsel  your  highness  to  do  the  same.  It  will  be  the  surest 
way  of  firmly  establishing  tranquillity  throughout  your 
dominions."  Lesdiguieres  followed  up  this  letter  by  two 
others  to  the  same  purpose,  and  the  duke  of  Savoy  called 
upon  the  Inquisition  to  comply  with  their  benevolent  re- 
quest ;  but  the  inquisitors  answered,  with  unctuous  humil- 
ity, that  the  matter  was  no  longer  in  their  hands,  having 
been  submitted  to  the  decision  of  Rome. 

Several  months  passed  away ;  for  a  year  and  a  half 
Sebastian  Bazana  protested,  by  his  earnest  and  energetic 
resignation,  against  the  violence  with  which  the  Christian 
faith  was  struck  in  his  person.  On  the  22d  of  November, 
1623,  his  sentence  was  announced  to  him :  he  was  con- 
demned to  be  burned  alive.  "I  welcome  my  death,"  he 
answered,  with  courageous  gentleness,  "since  it  is  the  will 
of  God,  and  will,  I  trust,  be  for  his  glory.  But  as  to  men, 
they  have  pronounced  an  unjust  sentence,  and  they  will 
soon  have  to  render  their  account  for  it."  I  know  not 
whether  by  fortuitous  coincidence,  or  by  the  judgment  of 
God,  but  certain  it  is,  that  he  who  had  pronounced  the 
iniquitous  judgment,  was,  that  very  night,  struck  with 
death  in  his  own  house.  His  victim  followed  him  the  next 
morning,  23d  of  November,  1623. 

As  Bazana  was  quitting  the  gates  of  his  prison,  on  his 
way  to  execution,  they  fastened  a  bandage  over  his  mouth, 


172 


THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 


in  order  to  stifle  his  evangelical  voice  even  at  the  pyre. 
But  as  the  executioner  was  tying  him  to  the  stake,  the 
bandao-e  fell  off,  and  the  martyr  thus  proclaimed  the  cause 
of  his  death: — "People,"  he  said,  "it  is  for  no  crime  I 
die  but  for  seeking  to  act  in  conformity  with  the  word  of 
God  ;  to  sustain  truth  against  error ;  to  — ."  Here  the 
inquisitors  stayed  him,  by  putting  light  to  the  pile  :  Bazana 
set  up  the  song  of  Simeon,  as  versified  by  Theodore  Beza, 
that  touching  canticle,  sung  by  the  faithful  of  his  church 
after  the  sacrament : — 

"Laissc-nioi  desormais, 
Seigneur,  aller  en  paix, 
Car  selon  ta  promesse, 
Tu  fills  voir  a  mes  yeux 
Le  salut  glorieux 
Que  j'atteudais  sans  cesse!'' 

But  his  voice  was  soon  silenced  by  the  flames. 


BRIDGE    OVEH   THE    GOILL.—(  High  Alps.) 


I 


C  jj  11  p  t  r  f  I  r  u  r  II  t  r  r  ii  t  Ij . 


THE    PROPAGANDA. 

Charles  Emanuel  II.  acceded  to  the  throne  of  Savoy 
on  the  4th  of  October,  1638,  being  at  that  time  but  four 
years  and  some  months  okl.  It  was  under  his  reign  that 
the  most  terrible  persecutions  that  ever  ensanguined  the 
Waldensian  valleys  took  place,  yet  we  cannot  justly  make 
him  alone  responsible  for  the  crime,  since,  up  to  his 
majority,  it  was  his  mother  who  governed  in  character  of 
regent.  This  was  Christine  of  France,  daughter  of  Henry 
IV.  and  of  Mary  de'  jNIedici,  who  inherited  all  the  hard 
and  haughty  attributes  of  her  grandmother,  so  that  it  was 
the  spirit  of  the  Medicis,  rather  than  that  of  the  house  of 
Savoy,  which  presided  over  the  carnage  of  1G55. 

From  1637  to  1642,  Thomas  and  Maurice  of  Savoy, 
brothers  of  the  late  king,  disputed,  with  his  widow,  the 
regency  of  his  states,  a  struggle  which  occasioned  the  most 
disastrous  troubles  to  Piedmont.  Then,  from  1642  to 
1659,  there  was  the  war  with  the  Spaniards,  to  eject  whom 
from  her  dominions  Christine  found  herself  necessitated  to 
call  in  the  troops  of  France.  All  this  while,  the  fomenters 
of  Rome  were  pursuing  their  work  against  the  Waldensian 
valleys ;  and  in  these  pious  labours  they  were  now  materi- 
ally aided  by  the  Congregatio  de  Propaganda  Fide,  a 
society  composed  of  both  priests  and  laymen,  established 
13*  '  (i"3) 


lYi  THE    WALDENSES. 

at  Rome  in  1G22,  by  pope  Gregory  XV.,  for  tlie  purpose 
of  propagating  the  catholic  faith.  This  association  soon 
ovcra^Yed  by  its  influence  the  secular  clergy,  who  had 
imprudently  admitted  it  as  an  ally ;  and,  ere  long,  the 
torch  of  conflagration  in  one  hand,  the  sword  of  death  in 
the  other,  and  its  feet  in  blood,  it  proceeded  to  the  savage 
extermination  of  all  doctrines  not  accordant  with  its  own. 
Nothing  was  forgotten  in  its  work,  except  the  gospel :  and 
what  has  it  gained?  that  which  persecution  ever  gains — 
the  burden  of  crimes  committed,  the  responsibility  of  blood 
poured  forth,  the  execration  of  mankind.  It  was  the  prior  of 
Luzerna,  Marc'  Aurelio  Rorengo,  who  planted  in  the  Walden- 
sian  valleys  the  first  shoot  of  this  powerful  tree,  the  branches 
of  which  were  soon  to  overspread  Piedmont,  and  cover  it 
with  the  ensanguined  fruits  of  the  most  odious  fanaticism. 
A  member  of  the  Roman  propaganda,  a  preaching  monk, 
named  Placido  Corso,  noted  for  his  polemical  talent,  was 
despatched  to  the  valleys  to  labour  at  the  conversion  of  the 
Waldenses.  On  arriving,  10th  of  November,  1637,  at  La 
Torre,  his  first  proceeding  was  to  invite  the  pastor  of  the 
place,  Gilles,  the  historian,  to  a  discussion,  which  was  at 
once  accepted.  The  monk  committed  to  paper  all  the 
arguments  and  data  upon  which  the  Roman  catholic  church 
arrogates  for  itself  the  titles  of  apostolical  and  sacred ; 
Gilles  refuted  these ;  numerous  letters  were  exchanged  in 
continuation  of  the  controversy,  until,  at  length,  Placido 
Corso  left  his  antagonist's  last  response  unanswered. 

Hoping  to  be  more  successful  in  a  conference  viva  voce, 
where  his  adversary  would  not  have  time  for  selecting  and 
weighing  his  arguments,  the  popish  propagandist  next 
applied  to  Antony  Leger,  Avho,  recently  returned  from 
Constantinople,  where  he  had  filled  the  office  of  chaplain 
to  the  embassy,  Avas  now  performing  the  modest  duties  of 


THE    PROPAGANDA.  175 

pastor  in  the  ancient  parish  of  San  Giovanni ;  and  it  was 
agreed  that  a  public  conference  should  take  place  at  L;i 
Torre,  on  the  4th  of  December,  1G37  ;  Ilorengo,  at  his  own 
desire,  acting  as  president,  Scipio  Bastia,  the  younger,  as 
secretary  for  the  protestants,  and  the  Capuchin,  Fra  Lo- 
renzo, as  secretary  for  the  catholics. 

The  first  conference  was  occupied  entirely  with  one  of 
the  most  difficult  questions  of  canonical  theology,  that  of 
the  apocryphal  books.  The  second  conference,  which 
took  place  on  1st  January,  1G38,  at  San  Giovanni,  lasted 
till  nightfall ;  after  this  the  propagandist  refused  to  have 
anything  further  to  say  to  a  set  of  dogmatists  who  he 
affirmed,  made  a  pope  of  the  bible.  The  bible  was  to  the 
WaldensGS  far  more  than  a  pope ;  but  the  servile  slave  of 
the  holy  see  could  conceive  no  similitude  more  effective. 
The  next  controversialists  who  undertook  to  combat  the 
Waldensian  pastors  was  a  Minorite,  brother  Hilarion ;  but 
after  a  few  letters  exchanged  with  the  pastor  of  Bobbi, 
Francis  Guerin,  he  also  gave  up  the  contest.  The  victor, 
however,  had  subsequently  to  pay  the  penalty  of  his  vic- 
tory, in  being  (1651)  driven  from  his  country  by  the  Inqui- 
sition. The  weapon  of  dialectics  failing  them,  the  papists 
had  recourse  to  assassination  and  abduction.  A  young 
man,  the  servant  of  an  English  protestant,  Mr.  Moreton, 
was  assassinated  at  La  Torre  ;  a  girl  of  Bubiana  was 
carried  off  by  the  monks  ;  her  brother,  who  hastened  to 
her  assistance,  was  slain,  and  the  girl  herself  taken  off  to 
Turin,  was  never  afterwards  heard  of  by  her  friends. 

In  the  contest  for  the  regency,  the  Waldenses  armed  in 
support  of  the  duchess  Christine,  and,  opening  a  way 
through  the  Alps  to  the  French  succors  under  Turenne 
andD'Harcourt,  were  the  means  of  restoring  to  the  regent 
one  of  the  most  valuable   provinces  of  her  realm.     The 


lYQ  THE    WALDENSES. 

return  for  this  eminent  service  was  the  cruellest  ingrati- 
tude. Antony  Leger,  who  had  taken  the  lead  in  assert- 
ing the  claims  of  Christine,  was  driven  from  his  parish  by- 
persecution,  under  the  most  frivolous  pretext,  and  com- 
pelled to  take  refuge  at  Geneva,  where  he  long  lived  an 
honoured  professor  of  the  Academy.  The  next  act  of 
arbitrary  rule  on  the  part  of  the  regent,  in  her  anxiety  to 
win  over  the  popish  clergy  from  her  competitor,  the  cardi- 
nal Maurice,  of  Savoy,  was  to  issue  an  order  (3d  Novem- 
ber, 1637)  for  all  the  Waldenses  who  had  settled  out  of 
the  precise  limits  of  their  valleys,  to  return  within  those 
limits  in  three  days.  At  about  the  same  time,  instruc- 
tions Avere  communicated  to  the  magistrates  in  favour  of 
the  Capuchin  missionaries,  upon  Avhose  denunciation  the 
raa<Tistrates  were  commanded  forthwith  to  arrest  all  sus- 
pected  persons.  In  the  following  year  (9th  November, 
1G38),  another  royal  decree  Avas  published  against  any 
territorial  extension  on  the  part  of  the  Waldenses,  who 
were  prohibited  from  purchasing  or  even  farming  lands 
beyond  their  own  narrow  limits,  on  pain  of  confiscation  and 
death.  This  prohibtion  was  renewed  in  April,  1640;  and 
with  it  came  orders  to  the  prefect  of  the  province,  Rossano, 
to  interdict  the  protestant  worship  at  San  Giovanni,  and  to 
close  the  Waldensian  church  there.  To  superintend  the 
execution  of  this  edict,  there  was  sent  from  Turin  a  special 
delegate,  a  doctor  of  laws  of  Moncaliere,  and  auditor  of 
state,  noted  for  his  Romish  zeal,  one  Gastaldo.  The  first 
proceeding  of  this  ofiicial,  after  having  established  him- 
self at  Luzerna,  was  to  cite  before  him  (14th  January, 
1641)  all  such  Waldenses  as  had  property  beyond  the 
limits  that  were  assigned  to  them,  which  limits  had  just 
previously  been  still  further  narrowed,  by  interdicting  to 
the  Waldenses  the  right  bank  of  the  Felice.     The  persons 


THE    PROPAGANDA.  lyy 

SO  cited  having  refused  to  appear,  their  property  of  every 
description  was  forthwith  confiscated  to  the  public  exche- 
quer. Next,  in  January,  1G42,  came  an  edict  ordering 
among  other  matters,  that  the  Castellans  in  the  Waldcnsian 
valleys  should  lend  gratuitous  aid  to  the  Capuchin  mis- 
sionaries in  all  cases  where  so  required  by  them,  should 
attend  all  meetings  held  by  the  Waldenses,  and,  were 
they  thought  fit,  dissolve  them.  The  AValdenses  on  their 
part,  were  prohibited  from  meeting,  except  in  the 
presence  of  the  said  Castellans,  under  penalty  of  fifty 
golden  crowns  for  each  offence  and  each  offender;  the 
edict  winding  up  with  promise  of  exemption  from  all 
public  charges  whatsoever,  during  the  space  of  five  years, 
to  every  protestant  who  would  consent  to  catholicize.  On 
February  17th,  1644,  was  proclaimed  a  prohibtion  to  the 
Waldenses  to  quit  their  limits  at  all,  eyen  for  a  few  hours, 
except  on  fair  days.  On  the  18th  of  September,  1G45, 
the  magistrates  of  the  surrounding  districts  were  enjoined 
to  seize  all  "Waldenses  found  in  their  localities ;  the  official 
celebration  of  the  catholic  worship  was  ordered  in  all  the 
protestant  parishes ;  an  establishment,  which  proved  an 
utter  failure,  was  formed  at  Luzerna,  to  receive  and  en- 
dow young  Waldensian  girls  who  would  consent  to  abjure. 
On  the  20th  of  February,  1650,  the  propagandists  obtained 
an  edict  suspending  all  the  privileges  which  had  been 
granted  to  the  Waldenses,  until  they  should  have  demol- 
ished the  eleven  churches  they  possessed  beyond  their 
own  special  limits,  had  dismissed  all  their  foreign  pastors, 
had  closed  all  their  numerous  trans-territorial  schools,  and 
consented  to  the  universal  celebration  of  the  catholic  wor- 
ship throughout  the  valleys.  On  the  15th  of  May,  in  the 
same  year,  Gastaldo  was  directed  to  restrict  the  limits  of 
the  Waldenses,  above   San   Giovanni  and  La   Torre,  and 


27g  THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S . 

to  compel  all  such  as  were  settled  in  those  communes,  and 
in  those  of  Luzernella,  Bubiana,  Fenile,  and  San  Segonzo, 
to  quit  them  ^vithin  three  days,  under  pain  of  death,  and 
to  sell  their  properties  therein  Avithin  fifteen  days,  under 
penalty  of  confiscation.  The  wholly  protestant  communes 
of  Bobbi,  Villar,  Angrogna,  and  Bora,  were  ordered  to 
maintain  each  a  mission  of  Capuchins  ;  and  foreign  protes- 
tants  were  prohibited  from  settling  in  the  valleys,  under 
pain  of  death  themselves,  and  a  penalty  of  one  thousand 
golden  crowns  upon  the  commune  that  should  receive  them. 
Gastaldo,  however,  little  sympathy  as  he  had  with  the 
Waldenses,  saw  the  utter  monstrosity  of  this  Draconian 
decree,  and  by  his  intervention  it  was,  after  a  while, 
withdrawn. 

Meanwhile,  the  propaganda  had  acquired  large  de- 
velopment, by  the  jubilee,  which,  in  1550,  brought  to 
Bome  the  rich  tribute  of  the  superstitious  of  universal  Eu- 
rope ;  a  sort  of  popular  enthusiasm  arose  for  this  work, 
access  to  which  was  open  to  all  catholics,  of  whatsoever 
rank,  and  which  procured  plenary  indulgence  for  all, 
princes  and  peasants  alike,  who  there  met,  for  once,  on  a 
common  level.  Hence,  the  propaganda  made  rapid  pro- 
gress, not  only  in  Italy,  but  in  France,  having  special 
councils  in  all  the  towns  of  those  countries  ;  and  it  was  at 
this  time  that  it  added  to  its  original  title,  de  propaganda 
fide,  the  further  designation,  et  extirpandis  hereticis. 
The  councils  were  composed  of  both  laymen  and  ecclesi- 
astics, and  there  being  plenary  indulgence  for  all  propa- 
gandists, women  also  took  part  in  the  proceedings,  so  that 
there  were  councils  of  men  and  councils  of  women.  At  Tu- 
rin, where  the  institution  became  established  (31st  of  May, 
1650)  under  the  distinguished  sanction  of  a  royal  ordinance, 
the  male  council  was  presided  over  by  the  archbishop  of 


T  II  E     P  Tt  0  P  A  (i  A  .N  ])  A  .  1  70 

the  city  and  by  tlic  marquis  di  San  Tomraaso,  and  the 
female  by  the  marchioness  di  Pianeza,  who  thus  sought,  in 
a  mistaken  religious  zeal,  to  expiate  the  sins  of  a  dissipated 
youth. 

Every  means  was  resorted  to  by  the  propagandists  to 
achieve  the  aim  of  their  society.  "  The  lady  propagan- 
dists," ^Yrites  Leger,  "distributed  the  towns  into  districts, 
and  each  visited  the  district  assigned  to  her  twice  a  week ; 
suborning  simple  girls,  servant-maids,  and  young  children, 
by  their  flattering  allurements  and  fair  promises ;  and 
doing  evil  turns  to  such  as  would  not  listen  to  them. 
They  had  their  spies  everywhere,  Avho,  among  other  infor- 
mation, ascertained  in  what  protestant  families  domestic 
disagreements  existed  ;  and  liither  would  the  propagandists 
repair,  stirring  up  the  flame  of  dissension  in  order  to  sep- 
arate the  husband  from  the  wife,  the  wife  from  the  husband, 
the  children  from  the  parents ;  promising  them,  and, 
indeed,  giving  them  great  advantages,  if  they  would  con- 
sent to  attend  mass.  Did  they  hear  of  a  tradesman, 
whose  business  Avas  falling  off,  or  of  a  gentleman  who  from 
gambling  or  otherwise  was  in  want  of  money,  these  ladies 
were  ever  at  hand  with  their  daho  tibi,  on  the  condition  of 
apostacy;  and  the  prisoner  was,  in  like  manner,  released 
from  his  dungeon,  who  would  give  himself  up  to  them. 
To  meet  the  very  heavy  expenses  of  this  proselytizing,  to 
keep  the  machinery  at  work,  to  purchase  the  souls  who 
sold  themselves  for  bread,  regular  collections  were  made 
in  the  chapels  and  in  private  families,  in  the  shops,  in  the 
inns,  in  the  gambling-houses,  in  the  streets — everywhere 
was  alms-seeking  in  operation,  for  the  extirpation  of  her- 
esy. The  marchioness  of  Pianeza  herself,  great  lady  as 
she  was,  used  every  second  or  third  day  to  make  a  circuit 
in  search  of  subscriptions,  even  going  into  the  taverns  for 


230  THE    WALDENSES. 

that  purpose.  Twice  a  week  the  councils  assembled  to 
receive  an  account  of  what  the  members  had  respectively 
done,  to  consult  what  measures  should  next  be  taken,  and 
to  arrange  for  securing  the  aid,  where  necessary,  of  the 
secular  arm — an  aid,  for  that  matter,  never  refused  to 
them.  The  councils  in  the  market  towns  were  in  subordi- 
nation to  those  of  the  metropolitan  towns ;  these  to  those 
of  the  capital,  and  these  to  that  of  Rome,  the  great  spider 
that  held  the  threads  of  all  this  mighty  web." 

All  the  Waldensian  children  whom  they  could  abstract 
from  their  parents'  houses,  were  considered  by  these  mis- 
guided zealots  as  so  many  innocents  rescued  from  the  jaws 
of  perdition ;  the  greatest  sacrifices  were  incurred,  the 
vengeance  of  man  and  the  decrees  of  the  laws  alike  braved, 
in  the  abduction  of  these  children,  who  were  then  placed 
with  rich  catholic  families,  who  undertook  their  mainte- 
nance, or  in  convents,  which  undertook  to  wean  them 
gradually  from  the  world,  from  their  country,  from  the 
pure  affections  of  the  heart,  and  from  the  biblical  faith, 
naturoJ  and  revealed  law  being  alike  scorned  by  the  bar- 
barous spirit  of  Catholicism. 

Another  modus  operandi  adopted  was  the  establishment 
at  Luzerna,  Pignerol,  and  Perrier,  of  Monts  de  Piete,^  to 
which  the  distressed  Waldenses  eagerly  resorted.  Confis- 
cations, the  continuous  billeting  of  troops  upon  them,  for 
the  last  few  years,  deficient  harvests,  and  several  tremend- 
ous conflagrations,  had  gradually  reduced  the  Waldenses 
to  the  last  stage  of  penury.  These  establishments  sup- 
plied the  wretched  population  with  corn,  clothing,  money, 
on  the  security  of  their  houses,  furniture,  land :  when  a 
Waldensian  was  known  to  have  in  this  way  pledged  his 
last  resource,  to  save  his  family  from  famine,  the  propagan- 
*  Pawn-broker  sliops. 


T  II  ]•:    1'  R  0  r  A  G  A  N  D  A  .  JgX 

(lists  would  come  to  him,  offering  full  and  free  restitution 
of  all  he  had  pledged,  and  quittance  for  the  amount  bor- 
rowed, on  condition  of  his  entering  the  Romish  church;  or 
they  would  have  him  first  thrown  into  prison  for  the  debt, 
and  then  assail  him  with  their  treacherous  proposals. 
These  means  were  effective  with  a  few,  but  the  work  was 
found  to  proceed  too  slowly. 

The  marchioness  di  Pianeza  died  :  when  she  had  given 
up  all  hopes  of  this  world,  she  bethought  herself  of  her 
husband,  whom  she  had -not  seen  for  many  years:  she  sent 
for  him,  and  said — "  I  have  much  to  expiate,  as  towards 
man  and  towards  yourself;  my  soul  is  in  danger;  aid  me 
to  save  it,  by  labouring  for  the  conversion  of  the  Wal- 
denses."  The  husband  gave  the  promise  required :  and, 
as  a  soldier,  sought  to  fulfil  it  by  soldierly  means — by  fire 
and  sword.  He  had  a  further  reason  for  obeying :  his 
wife  left  him  considerable  sums,  to  be  received  by  him  only 
on  the  condition  of  obedience. 

It  only  remained  to  create  a  pretext  for  violence,  and 
this  was  not  difficult  to  devise.  The  monastery  of  Villar 
had  been  destroyed  by  fire  in  1563,  and  the  Waldenses 
had  been  charged  as  the  incendiaries.  At  all  events,  they 
had  been  compelled,  in  the  following  year,  to  rebuild  the 
edifice,  so  that  this  matter  had  nothing  to  do,  as  has  been 
alleged,  with  the  persecutions  of  1655.  Some  other  ground 
had  to  be  sought.  The  cure  of  Fenile  had  been  assassin- 
ated ;  the  assassin  being  arrested,  the  propagandists  pro- 
mised him  a  free  pardon,  if  he  would  make  a  public  con- 
fession that  he  had  killed  the  priest  at  the  instigation  of 
the  Waldenses,  and,  in  especial,  of  Leger,  then  pastor  of 
San  Giovanni.  Bcrru,  who  had  not  shrunk  from  crime 
involving  capital  punishment — he  had  committed  two  other 
murders  beside  that  of  the  cure — did  not  shrink  from  a 
16 


182 


THE   WALDENSES. 


perjury  that  was  to  save  his  life ;  and  upon  the  denuncia- 
tion of  this  reprobate,  the  pastor  of  San  Giovanni  was,  with- 
out trial,  without  even  citation,  condemned  to  death  as 
instif'ator  of  the  assassination,  while  the  real  murderer  was 
set  at  liberty. 

Just  at  this  time,  the  troops  of  Louis  XIV.,  which  had 
been  succouring  the  duke  of  Modena,  were  on  their  return 
home  through  the  valleys,  and  it  was  at  once  resolved  to 
canton  them  among  the  Waldenses,  so  that  they  might 
be  ready  at  hand  to  aid  the  persecution. 


CljiiptFr  (Bigljtrrntlj. 


THE    MASSACRES    OF    1655. 

The  various  provincial  councils  de  extirpandis  hctretieis 
addressed  to  the  metropolitan  council  at  Turin  incessant 
complaints  against  the  Waldenses,  and  these  complaints 
were  as  incessantly  laid  before  the  duke  by  the  archbishop 
of  Turin  and  the  ministers  of  state,  all  of  whom  were  mem- 
bers of  the  propaganda.  It  was  not  until  January,  1055, 
however,  that  Charles  Emanuel,  a  prince  of  clement  and 
amiable  character,  would  take  any  measures  in  the  matter, 
and  he  then  merely  consented  to  order  Gastaldo  to  carry 
into  eflfect  the  edict  of  May,  1650,  for  restricting  the  limits 
of  his  Waldensian  subjects.  The  military  operations  which 
ensued  are  not  chargeable  against  the  memory  of  this 
prince,  who,  alike  with  the  Waldenses  themselves,  was 
made  the  dupe  of  the  insidious  machinations  of  the  propa- 
gandists. The  Waldenses  fell  in  thousands,  victims  of  sys- 
tematic and  cruel  carnage,  and  the  duke  found  himself 
put  under  the  ban  of  the  civilized  princes  of  Europe  by 
reason  of  that  carnage. 

On  25th  January,  1655,  Gastaldo  issued  an  order  that 

all  the  protcstant  families  domiciled   in  the  communes  of 

Luzerna   and   Luzernella,    Fenile,    Campiglone,   Bubiana, 

Bricherasio,  San  Segonza,  San  Giovanni,  and   La  Torre, 

(183) 


184  THE    W  A  L  D  E  X  S  E  S  . 

sliould  transport  themselves  into  the  valley  and  confines 
of  Bobbi,  Villar,  Angrogna,  and  Rorata,  the  only  places 
in  the  valley  in  which  his  highness  would  tolerate  their 
religion,  and  this  in  the  space  of  three  days,  under  pain 
of  death  and  of  confiscation  of  goods.  They  were,  besides, 
directed  to  sell  their  lands  in  the  said  districts  within 
twenty  days.  All  those  who  would  consent  to  catholicize 
were  exempted  from  the  decree.  Further,  it  was  ordered 
that  the  catholic  worship  should  be  celebrated  in  all  the 
protestant  communes,  the  Waldenses  being  prohibited, 
under  heavy  penalties,  from  in  any  way  impeding  or  dis- 
turbing such  celebration ;  and  the  pain  of  death  was 
denounced  against  any  person  who  should  dissuade  a  pro- 
testant from  turning  catholic.  This  order  directed  that 
all  the  members  of  the  families  indicated  should  remove ; 
but  Gastaldo,  at  first,  contented  himself  with  requiring  the 
removal  of  the  heads  of  these  families.  They  obeyed,  and 
retired  to  the  upper  portions  of  the  valley,  whence  they 
addressed  an  earnest  remonstrance  to  their  prince,  who,  on 
his  part,  seemed  well  disposed  to  clemency,  saying  to  count 
Christopher  of  Luzerna,  who  interceded  for  the  remon- 
strants— "  I  am  willing  they  should  remain  at  San  Gio- 
vanni and  La  Torre,  provided  they  will  withdraw  from  the 
other  localities  nearer  the  plain ;  for  their  adversaries  will 
not  let  me  have  any  peace  till  they  have  got  some  such 
concession."  The  propogandists,  meanwhile,  were  not 
idle ;  they  sent  a  statement  to  the  duke  that  the  Wal- 
denses were  in  a  state  of  revolt,  and  had  already  caused 
the  cur6  of  Fenile  to  be  assassinated.  In  consequence, 
when  the  deputies  from  the  Waldenses  again  presented 
themselves  at  the  palace,  they  were  not  received,  but  were 
ordered  to  settle  the  matter  with  the  council  of  the  pro- 
paganda.    The  council,  in  their  turn,  refused  to  receive 


THE    MASSACRES    OF    1655.  |85 

tlicm,  on  the  ground  of  their  being  protestants,  and  inti- 
mated that  what  they  had  to  say,  they  must  say  by  the 
mouth  of  a  popish  attorney.  The  popish  attorney  was 
sent ;  and  then  the  council  ordered  that  deputies  must  be 
appointed,  competent  to  subscribe  engagements  in  tlie 
name  of  the  whole  people.  These  deputies  were  sent ;  but 
their  instructions  bearing  that  they  were  to  sign  nothino- 
in  diminution  of  the  privileges  from  time  to  time  conceded 
to  their  constituents,  the  council  refused  to  receive  them, 
until  they  had  procured  unlimited  powers.  The  month  of 
March  was  occupied  with  the  transmission  of  protocols, 
memorials,  and  supplications  from  the  Waldenses  to  the 
duke  and  to  the  marquis  di  Pianeza,  and  with  replies  on 
the  part  of  the  latter,  full  of  that  tone  of  moderation  which 
is  so  easily  assumed  by  men  of  his  cold,  hard,  calculating 
temperament.  At  length,  in  the  beginning  of  April,  1655, 
a  third  Waldensian  deputation,  consisting  of  two  delegates 
only,  repaired  to  Turin,  furnished  with  full  powers,  ena- 
bling them  to  accept  whatever  conditions  his  highness 
might  be  pleased  to  impose,  provided  only  that  their  liberty 
of  conscience  was  not  assailed  ;  in  which  case  they  were  to 
request  from  the  duke  permission  for  the  Waldenses  to 
withdraw  altogether  from  his  states. 

This  was  putting  the  question  courageously  and  unam- 
biguously, so  that  any  answer  given  could  not  well  be  oth- 
erwise than  also  unambiguous.  The  marquis  di  Pianeza 
announced  that  he  would  give  his  answer  on  the  17th 
April.  The  deputies  repaired  to  the  palace  at  the 
appointed  hour ;  they  were  told  to  come  at  a  later  period 
of  the  day ;  they  returned — his  excellency  was  still  not 
'visible  ;  they  returned  a  third  time,  and  were  then  directed 
to  come  next  day  but  one.  "  What  does  this  mean  ?" 
16* 


18G  THE    AVALDENSES. 

asked  the  deputies,  the  one  of  the  other,  filled  with  impa- 
tience and  anxiety.     They  soon  learned  what  it  meant. 

On  the  IGth  April,  the  day  preceding  that  on  which 
they  had  been  directed  to  appear  before  the  marquis,  the 
marquis  had  quitted  Turin,  at  nightfall,  to  join  the  troops 
who  had  been  directed  to  await  him  on  the  road  to  the  val- 
leys ;  and  on  the  17th,  while  the  deputies,  full  of  good 
faith  and  confidingness,  were  repairing  to  his  palace  at 
Turin,  Pianeza,  in  whom  Jesuitism  had  annihilated  at  once 
nobility  of  blood  and  soldierly  honour,  was  on  the  thres- 
hold of  their  valleys,  at  the  head  of  troops  about  to  subject 
those  valleys  to  devastation  and  death.  These  troops 
were  numerous.  Besides  those  already  quartered  in  the 
valleys,  there  were  the  regiment  of  Grancey,  commanded 
by  Du  Petit  Bourg,  which  was  quartered  at  Pignerol ;  the 
city  regiment,  commanded  by  Galeazzo  ;  the  regiment  of 
Chablais,  commanded  by  the  prince  de  Montafon  ;  and  that 
of  Saint  Damian,  commanded  by  captain  Saint  Damian  ; 
the  marquis  de  Pianeza  acting  as  general-in-chief. 

On  the  17th  April,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  La  Torre,  to 
order  the  Waldenses  to  provide  for  the  entertainment  of 
eight  hundred  foot  and  three  hundred  horse,  whom  his  royal 
highness  had  ordered  to  be  quartered  in  their  commune. 

"How  can  his  royal  highness  require  us  to  lodge  his 
soldiers  in  a  place  Avhere  his  last  edict  has  forbidden  us 
ourselves  to  live?"  asked  the  Waldenses. 

"  Then  why  are  you  here  ?"  retorted  the  messenger. 

"We  are  here  for  our  affairs;  but  we  have  removed  our 
permanent  habitation  within  the  limits  that  have  been 
prescribed  to  us." 

The  messenger  returned.  Towards  evening,  the  mar- 
quis, after  having  passed,  without  resistance,  the  line  of 
Bricherasio,  Fenile,  Campiglone,   Bubiana,  and  San  Gio- 


THE    MASSACRES    OF1G55.  187 

vanni,  -whence  the  Waldenses  had  withdrawn,  arrived  under 
the  Avails  of  La  Torre,  with  the  city  and  Damian  regiments. 
It  is  readily  conceivable  that  this  concentration  of  troops 
in  the  valleys,  the  avowed  designs  of  the  propaganda,  the 
high  rank  of  its  supporters,  the  general  excitation  of  pop- 
ular fanaticism,  the  warnings  of  their  friends,  the  menaces 
of  their  enemies,  had  by  this  time  clearly  opened  the  eyes 
of  the  Waldenses  to  the  hostile  intentions  of  the  popish 
party,  though  they  knew  not  to  what  extent  they  had  to 
keep  oif  their  guard,  or  how  far  they  were  to  trust  their 
sovereign,  for  the  deputies  whom  they  had  sent  to  Turin 
had  not  returned.  What  were  they  to  do?  They  had 
prayed  to  God  for  counsel,  they  had  advised  with  their 
pastors,  they  had  written  to  Geneva  for  instruction ;  the 
general  voice  told  them  to  defend  themselves;  but  the  un- 
certainty of  their  position  precluded  them  from  concerting 
any  definite  plan.  They  saw  clouds  gathering,  but  they 
could  not  imagine  the  malignity  of  the  tempest  that  was 
about  to  pour  down  upon  them.  Had  they  done  so,  all 
hesitation  would  have  disappeared,  and  the  energy  of  their 
combined  resistance  would  have  been  co-equal  with  their 
violated  rights.  In  this  state  of  ignorance  and  indecision, 
wishing  to  obey  their  sovereign  and  quarter  his  troops,  yet 
uneasy  at  seeing  in  command  of  those  troops  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  that  propaganda  which  had  vowed  their  destruc- 
tion, not  venturing  either  upon  confiding  compliance  or 
upon  determined  resistance,  they  resorted  merely  to  half 
measures,  futile  in  this  case  as  in  all  others.  Gianavel 
alone,  so  early  as  February,  foreseeing  the  terrible  perse- 
cution about  to  befall  his  co-religionists,  had  collected 
together  a  small  body  of  resolute  men,  with  whom  he  was 
prepared  to  act  energetically ;  but  the  rest  of  his  country- 


18S  '  THE    WALDENSES. 

men  then  regarded  his  proceedings  as  too  distrustful — too 
violent ! 

The  marquis  di  Pianeza  had  arrived  under"  the  walls  of 
La  Torre  at  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  Saturday,  17th 
April ;  his  whole  army  encamped  on  the  plain  which  ex- 
tends from  Les  Appiots  to  Pra-la-Fera  and  Les  Eyrals. 
The  general-in-chief  called  upon  the  Waldenses  to  enter- 
tain his  troops ;  the  people  in  the  town,  in  number  not 
more  than  three  or  four  hundred,  replied  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  provide  entertainment  for  such  an  army ;  that 
there  was  nothing  prepared,  and  that  they  must  be  per- 
mitted time  for  considering  the  matter.  All  delay  was 
refused;  and  the  townspeople  were  ordered  forthwith  to 
receive  the  troops,  who  would  otherwise  take  forcible  pos- 
session of  the  place.  Thereupon  the  Waldenses  entrenched 
themselves  behind  the  barricade  which  they  had  hastily 
constructed  at  the  entrance  to  their  town,  opposite  the 
bridge  of  Angrogna.  The  marquis  di  Pianeza  attacked 
this  bastion;  but  the  besieged  resisted  so  valiantly,  that 
after  three  hours'  fighting,  the  enemy  had  made  no  pro- 
gress. But  about  one  in  the  morning,  count  Amadeus  of 
Luzerna,  who  was  acquainted  with  the  locality,  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  the  city  regiment,  and  while  the  other 
popish  troops  continued  to  engage  the  attention  of  the 
besieged,  turned  the  town  by  the  Police,  advanced  silently 
through  the  meadows  and  orchards,  and  then,  entering  La 
Torre  by  the  Strada  del  Bruni,  attacked  the  Waldenses  in 
the  rear.  The  latter  at  once  faced  about,  pierced  the 
ranks  of  the  new-comers,  and  made  good  their  retreat  to 
the  hills,  having,  in  the  whole  engagement,  lost  only  three 
men.  It  was  now  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  :  the  Roman- 
ist, masters  of  the  town,  repaired  in  a  body  to  the  church 
of  the  mission,  where  they  chanted  a  Te  Deum,  amid  vehe- 


THE    MASSACRES    OF    \  C,  3  :> .  ISQ 

ment  vociferations  of  Long  live  t/ie  holy  Roman  church  ! 
Hurrah  for  the  holy  faith!  Down  ivith  the  Barhetti! 
At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  marquis  di  Piancza  en- 
tered the  town,  "  Avith  all  his  nobility,"  and  took  up  his 
quarters  in  the  house  of  the  mission. 

It  "was  now  Sunday  morning — the  morning  of  Palin 
Sunday,  the  opening  of  Holy  Week,  and  the  spirit  of  an- 
tichrist burned  to  signalize  this  Christian  festival  by  a 
grand  massacre  of  Christians.  That  very  Sunday,  accord- 
ingly, immediately  after  mass,  a  body  of  soldiers,  under 
the  command  of  Mario  di  Bagnolo,  departed,  by  way 
of  diversion,  or  appropriate  preparation  for  the  com- 
ing festival,  on  a  "heretic  hunt,"  that  is  to  say,  to  shoot 
all  the  Waldeneses  they  could  find,  and  burn  their  houses. 
In  the  evening,  fresh  troops  arrived  at  La  Torre,  and  by 
Monday,  19th  April,  the  army  consisted  of  not  fewer  than 
fifteen  thousand  men.  There  was  no  longer  any  room  for 
doubt :  that  ancient  project,  the  extermination  of  the  Wal- 
desens,  so  maturely  prepared  and  so  unhesitatingly  avowed 
by  the  more  zealous  partisans  of  the  Romish  church,  was 
now,  at  length,  to  be  effectually  executed,  and  thus  did 
popery  design  to  celebrate  the  Easter  of  1655. 

The  Waldenses,  beholding,  from  the  heights  between 
Angrogna  and  Tagliarette,  devastation  and  conflagration 
extending  over  the  plain,  put  themselves  on  the  defensive, 
placing  sentinels  at  the  advanced  points,  and  small  bodies 
of  their  militia  in  the  more  important  passes.  But  they 
were  poorly  armed  and  inadequately  organized,  for  they 
had  formed  no  conception  of  the  extent  of  the  perfidy  to 
which  they  were  to  be  subjected.  On  the  19th,  the  troops 
of  the  marquis  attacked  these  poor  mountaineers  simulta- 
neously on  the  heights  of  San  Giovanni,  of  La  Torre,  of 
Angrogna,  and  of  Bricherasio.     The  Waldenses  contented 


190  THE     AVALDENSES. 

themselves  with  defending  their  posts.  They  wore  one 
against  a  hundred,  but  a  powerful  support  sustained 
them — confidence  in  God.  All  the  attacks  upon  them 
failed  :  the  enemy  could  not  drive  them  from  any  one  of 
their  entrenchments.  The  campaign,  ultimately  so  disas- 
trous to  them,  opened  with  a  victory  in  their  favour. 

On  the  20th  (Tuesday),  two  attacks  only  were  essayed, 
one  upon  the  \Yaldenses  of  San  Giovanni,  entrenched  at 
Castello,  the  other  upon  the  protestants  of  Tagliarette. 
Both  resulted  in  favour  of  the  assailed.  The  former  was 
repulsed  with  marked  success  by  Captain  Grayero  ;  the 
latter  was  equally  fatal  to  the  assailants,  for  the  Walden- 
ses  lost  only  two  men,  while  of  the  enemy  fifty  were  killed. 
Leger,  who  relates  these  details,  took  part  in  this  engage- 
ment. 

The  marquis  di  Pianeza,  finding  the  large  army  he  com- 
manded thus  unavailing  against  determined  resistance 
occupying  advantageous  positions,  had  recourse  to  a  means 
which,  but  too  often  successful  against  the  Waldenses,  be- 
cause they  were  ignorant  of  its  use,  has  ever  been  successful 
with  the  Romish  church,  much  of  whose  power  is  based  on 
its  exercise  :  he  had  recourse  to  perfidy.  On  the  morning 
of  the  21st,  two  hours  before  daybreak,  he  announced,  by 
sound  of  trumpet,  at  each  of  the  Waldenses  entrench- 
ments, that  he  was  ready  to  receive  deputies,  with  whom 
to  treat  for  an  accommodation,  in  the  name  of  the  duke  of 
Savoy. 

Deputies  from  all  the  communes  of  the  valley  waited 
upon  him  accordingly;  he  received  them  with  infinite 
urbanity,  entertained  them  at  dinner,  and  conversed  with 
them  for  a  considerable  time.  He  assured  them  of  the  most 
friendly  views  towards  them,  said  that  the  order  issued  by 
Gastaldo,  on  the  25th  of  January,  referred  only  to  the 


THE    MASSACRES    OF   1C55.  191 

inhabitants  of  the  lower  valleys,  whom  it  was  deemed  ex- 
pedient to   remove   into  the  mountains,  but  that  the  com- 
munes of  the  upper  valley  had  absolutely  nothing  whatever 
to    apprehend.     He   expressed   the  utmost  regret  for  the 
excesses  which  had  been  committed   by  his  soldiers,  and, 
imputing  them  to  the  difficulty  of  enforcing  discipline  upon 
so  large  a  body  of  troops,  insidiously  took  the  occasion  to 
say  that  it  was  for  the  very  purpose  of  effecting  a  better 
command  over  them  that  he  had  wished  to  distribute  them  ; 
then,    representing   to   the   deputies  the  personal    favour 
they  would  confer  upon  their  sovereign  by  receiving,  for 
a  while,  each  commune  a  single  regiment,  he  expressed  his 
conviction  that  the  duke,  touched  with  so  great  a  mark  of 
confidence,  would  be  induced  to  recall  the    decree  which 
affected  the  Waldenses  of  the  plain. 

The  deluded  deputies  promised  their  best  assistance,  and 
accordingly,  despite  the  energetic  opposition  of  Gianavel 
and  Leger,  the  communes  consented  to  receive  the  troops 
of  the  marquis  di  Pianeza.  That  very  evening  they  took 
possession  of  all  the  roads,  installed  themselves  in  the  vil- 
lages and  houses,  and,  regardless  of  the  order  given  them 
to  behave  with  caution,  did  not  even  await  the  morning  to 
massacre  several  of  the  heretics. 

Their  impatience  betrayed  them.  In  their  eagerness  to 
secure  the  strong  positions  in  the  mountains,  while  two 
regiments  took  the  ordinary  road  to  Villar  and  Bobbi,  and 
a  third  that  of  Angrogna,  a  special  detachment  began  the 
ascent  of  Campo  La  Rama  and  of  Costa  Rossina,  in  order 
to  arrive  the  more  speedily  at  Pra-del-Tor.  This  detach- 
ment, on  its  way,  set  fire  to  the  scattered  village  of  Tag- 
liarette  ;  the  smoke  of  the  burning  houses  was  seen,  tho 
cries  of  the  fugitives  and  the  shouts  of  their  pursuers  were 
heard,  on  the  hill  of  Ptorata,  where  a  signal  of  distress  was 


192  THE    WALDENSES. 

immediately  lighted,  and  almost  as  immediately  perceived 
from  the  heights  of  Angrogna,  whither  most  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  plains,  expelled  from  Bubiana,  Campiglone, 
&c.,  by  the  order  of  Gastaldo,  had  taken  refuge.  The 
inhabitants  of  Angrogna,  thus  aroused,  saw  in  their  turn, 
the  approach  towards  them  of  the  invading  detachment, 
which,  on  its  way  to  Pra-del-Tor,  was  triumphantly  de- 
scending the  opposite  hill.  On  the  other  side,  towards 
Le  Porte  d'Angrogna  was  seen  advancing  the  regiment 
of  Grancey.  Thereupon  the  people  of  Angrogna  lighted 
also  their  signal  fires;  and  cries  of — To  Perosa!  To 
Perosa !  To  La  Vachara !  Treachery !  and  so  on 
spread,  like  electric  flames,  along  the  mountain  slopes, 
whence  all  the  men  capable  of  bearing  arms  hastily  with- 
drew to  the  heights  of  La  Vachera,  and  thence  by  the  val- 
ley of  Pramol,  to  those  of  Perosa  and  Pragela,  which  at 
that  period  belonged  to  France. 

At  Bobbi  the  alarm  was  raised  less  promptly,  for  the 
regiments  of  Bagnolo  and  of  Petit  Bourg,  the  former  of 
which  was  to  be  quartered  at  Bobbi,  and  the  other  at  Vil- 
lar,  arrived  quietly  by  the  ordinary  road.  Some  appre- 
hensions were,  indeed  awakened  when  it  was  found  that 
the  soldiers,  instead  of  confining  themselves  to  Bobbi,  ex- 
tended their  occupation  to  Sarcena  and  Villanova ;  but 
still  the  officers  declared  their  resolution  to  maintain  the 
strictest  discipline,  and  the  isolated  murders  which  had 
been  perpetrated  by  the  soldiers  on  the  way  had  not,  as 
yet,  reached  the  knowledge  of  the  AYaldenses. 

At  Angrogna  even,  where  they  found  only  a  few  women, 
children,  and  old  men,  feeble  guardians  of  the  deserted 
village,  the  soldiers  abstained,  at  first,  from  any  excess. 
Di  Pianeza  contented  himself  apparently,  with  taking  up 
merely  his  temporary  abode  there,  in  order  to  refresh  him- 


THE    JI  A  S  S  A  C  R  E  S    OF    1  G  5  5 .  193 

self  and  his  men  for  a  few  dnys  ;  and  meanwhile  sought  to 
orain  the  confidence  of  the  Waldensian  children  and  Avomcn, 
Avhom  he  urged  to  recall  their  fathers  and  husbands,  on  the 
assurance  that  no  evil  Avas  designed  them.  Some  few 
returned  accordingly:  woe  to  them  !  Non  servanda  fides 
hccretics,  said  the  council  of  Constance :  Ad  extirpandos 
lia'7'eticos,  cried  the  propaganda.  In  a  day  or  two,  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  valley,  its  villages,  its  houses, 
its  roads,  and  its  rocks,  were  occupied  by  the  assassins  in 
the  pay  of  the  propaganda  ;  and  now  these  assassins  were 
called  upon  to  do  their  work.  On  Saturday,  24th  April, 
1655,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  signal  for  a  gen- 
eral massacre  of  the  Waldenses  was  given  to  the  traitorous 
troops,  from  the  tower  of  the  castle  of  La  Torre.  The 
soldiers,  forewarned,  had  risen  early,  fresh  with  the  sleep 
they  had  enjoyed  under  tlie  roofs  of  those  they  were  about 
to  slaughter.  The  men  whom,  under  the  solemn  engage- 
ment of  security  and  protection,  the  Waldenses  had  fed 
and  housed,  were  now  on  foot,  throughout  the  valley,  con- 
verted, by  the  arts  of  Home,  from  brave  soldiers  into  cow- 
ardly assassins. 

To  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  horrors  that  ensued, 
one's  eye  must,  at  a  single  glance,  comprehend  the  entire 
valley,  take  in  each  house,  each  room,  view  every  act  of 
death  and  torment,  distinguish,  amid  the  immense  voice  of 
ao-gregate  anguish  and  desolation,  each  particular  cry  of 
destroyed  honour,  of  parting  existence.  Literally,  indeed, 
did  the  unhappy  Waldenses  suffer  the  things  of  which  the 
apostle  speaks:  "They  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn 
asunder,  were  tempted,  were  slain  with  the  sword :  they 
wandered  about  in  sheepskins  and  goatskins;  being  desti- 
tute, afflicted,  tormented;  (of  whom  the  world  was  not 
wortliy :)  they  wandered  in  deserts  and  in  mountains,  and 
17  N 


194  THE    WALDENSES. 

in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth."  Young  children,  writes 
Leger,  Avere  torn  from  their  mothers'  arms,  dashed  against 
the  rocks,  and  their  mangled  remains  cast  on  the  road. 
Sick  persons  and  old  people,  men  and  women,  were  burned 
alive  in  their  houses,  or  hacked  in  pieces,  or  mutilated  in 
horrible  ways,  or  flayed  alive,  or  exposed  bound  and  dying 
to  the  sun's  noontide  heat,  or  to  ferocious  animals ;  some 
were  stripped  naked,  bound  in  the  form  of  a  ball,  the  head 
forced  down  between  the  legs,  and  then  rolled  over  preci- 
pices ;  some  of  these  poor  creatures,  torn  and  mangled  by 
the  rocks,  but  stayed  in  their  downward  progress  by  the 
branch  of  a  tree,  or  other  prominence,  were  seen,  forty- 
eight  hours  after,  still  lingering  in  all  the  torments  of  pain 
and  famine. 

Women  and  girls,  after  being  fearfully  outraged,  were 
impaled  on  pikes,  and  so  left  to  die,  planted  at  angles  of 
the  road  ;  or  they  were  buried  alive  ;  or,  impaled  as  above, 
they  were  roasted  before  a  slow  fire,  and  their  burning 
bodies  cut  in  slices,  by  these  soldiers  of  the  faitli  as  by 
cannibals.  After  the  massacre,  such  children  as  survived, 
and  could  be  seized,  were  carried  off,  and  cast,  like  lambs 
into  a  slaughter-house,  into  the  monasteries  and  convents 
and  private  abodes  of  the  propagandists.  Next,  after 
massacre  and  abduction,  came  incendiarism :  monks  and 
priests,  and  other  zealous  propagandists,  went  about  with 
lighted  torches  and  projectiles,  burning  down  the  houses, 
previously  ensanguined  by  the  soldiers  with  the  blood  of 
their  owners  and  their  families.  The  terrible  narrative 
given  by  Leger  of  these  atrocities,  was  prepared  by  him 
from  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses,  who  gave  their  depo- 
sitions before  two  notaries,  who  accompanied  him  from 
commune  to  commune  for  that  purpose.  The  pen,  he  says, 
well-nigh  fell  from  his  hand,  as  he  transcribed  the  horrible 


THE    MASSACRES    OF    1G55.  195 

details.  Here,  a  father  had  seen  his  children  cut  in  pieces 
by  the  sword,  or  absolutely  torn  limb  from  limb  by  four 
soldiers  ;  there  the  mother  had  seen  her  only  daughter 
cruelly  massacred  before  her  face,  after  having  been  as 
cruelly  outraged ;  there  the  sister  had  seen  her  brother's 
mouth  filled  vi'ith  gunpowder,  and  the  head  then  blown 
to  atoms;  there  the  husband  had  seen  his  wife,  about  to 
become  a  mother,  treated  in  a  manner  which  it  would  out- 
rage humanity  to  describe.  Of  these,  the  eyes  were  torn 
from  the  head ;  of  those,  the  nails  from  the  fingers  ;  some 
were  tied  to  trees,  their  heart  and  lungs  were  cut  from 
them,  and  they  were  thus  left  to  die  in  anguish.  The 
universal  conflagration  of  the  Waldensian  houses  succeeded 
the  massacre  of  their  inhabitants.  In  several  communes^ 
not  a  single  cottage  Avas  left  standing  ;  so  that  this  fair 
valley  of  Luzerna,  as  Leger  expresses  it,  resembled  a 
burning  furnace,  whence  cries,  fewer  and  fainter,  attested 
that  a  people  had  lived. 

All  those  victims  might  have  lived,  had  they"  consented 
to  abjure  their  faith.  Some  who  were  saved  from  imme- 
diate death,  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  there  subjected 
to  continuous  torturings  to  compel  them  to  apostacy. 
James  and  David  Prins,  of  Baudena,  near  Villar,  -were  taken 
to  the  prison  of  Luzerna,  and  there,  having  resisted  the  ut- 
most solicitations  of  the  priests,  their  arms,  from  the  shoulder 
to  the  elbow  were  first  flayed  in  strips,  which,  the  upper 
end  remaining  uncut  floated  on  the  living  flesh  beneath  ; 
then,  the  arms,  from  the  elbow  to  the  hand,  were  flayed  in 
like  manner  ;  then  the  thighs  to  the  knee,  and  then  the  legs, 
from  the  knees  to  the  soles  of  the  feet ;  and  in  this  condition 
they  were  left  to  die.  These  Prins  were  two  of  a  family  of 
six  brothers,  who,  having  married  six  sisters,  lived  with  their 
families  altogether  on  one  farm,  having  no  separation  of 


196  THE    "WALDENSES. 

goods,  but  each  having  his  particular  task  ;  some  in  the 
vineyards,  some  in  the  cattle-jard ;  and  all  the  forty 
persons  of  whom  this  combined  family  consisted,  living 
together  without  the  least  discord,  the  eldest  brother  and 
sister,  being  as  it  were,  father  and  mother  to  the  rest. 
Yet  these  scenes,  so  patriarchal,  so  pure,  so  touching,  so 
simple,  so  Christian,  were  made  a  prey  to  the  demon  of 
popery,  cruel  in  its  superstition  beyond  the  cruelty  of  the 
most  barbarous  savages. 

A  farm  servant  of  Bobbi,  refusing  to  apostatize,  had  the 
palms  of  his  hands  and  the  soles  of  his  feet  pierced  with 
dagger  thrusts ;  he  was  then  barbarously  mutilated,  and 
suspended  over  a  fire,  in  order  that  the  flame  might  stay 
the  effusion  of  blood.  Next,  his  nails  were  torn  from  his 
fingers  with  pincers ;  and  as  he  still  adhered  to  his  reli- 
gion, he  was  then  tied  by  the  feet  to  the  tail  of  a  mule, 
and  so  dragged  through  the  streets  of  Luzerna.  Seeing 
him  now  at  the  point  af  death,  his  executioners  tied  a  cord 
so  tight  round  his  head  that  the  eyes  and  the  brain 
were  forced  out ;  and  the  mangled  carcass  was  then  thrown 
into  the  river. 

From  the  bell-tower  of  the  catholic  church  of  St. 
Germain  I'Auxerrois  issued  the  signal  of  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew !  From  the  cathedral  of  Palermo 
was  announced  the  Sicilian  vespers  !  From  the  tower  of 
St.  Mary,  in  the  castle  of  La  Torre,  glared  the  fire  that 
lit  up  the  Piedmontese  Easter.  Oh,  Mary  !  mother  of  the 
Saviour  !  if  any  sword  pierce  thy  breast,  it  is  that  of  the 
church  which  pretends  to  honour  thee  the  most ;  the  church 
which,  calling  thee  queen  of  the  angels,  represents  thee  to 
the  world  as  queen  of  the  demons  ! 

So  monstrous  were  the  cruelties  with  which  the  work  of 
extermination  was  accompanied,  that  several,  even  of  the 


THE    MASSACRES    OF    1655.  197 

officers  who  had  been  appointed  to  execute  it,  were  struck 
with  horror,  and  resigned  their  commands,  rather  than 
fulfil  their  orders.  In  consequence  of  the  general  indig- 
nation expressed  by  the  protestant  states  of  Europe,  upon 
receiving  intelligence  of  the  massacre,  the  duke  of  Savoy 
thought  it  expedient  to  publish  a  statement  of  the  transac- 
tion. This  narrative,  printed  in  Italian,  French,  and 
Latin,  under  the  title  of  The  Factum  of  the  Court  of  Savoy ^ 
though  it  endeavoured  to  make  out  a  favourable  case  for 
the  duke's  government,  and  charged  the  Waldenses  with 
bringing  all  the  mischief  upon  themselves,  yet  acknow- 
ledged quite  enough  to  show  that  the  atrocities  complained 
of  had  really  been  perpetrated. 

17* 


Clj  a p t f  f  3)1  i  11  r t r r  11 1 Ij , 


G  I  AN  AY  EL. 

We  have  mentioned  that  the  Waldenses  of  Angrogna 
and  the  fugitives  from  the  plain  of  Piedmont  had,  for  the 
most  part,  retired  to  the  valley  of  Pero^a.  Those  of  San 
Martin,  forewarned  by  a  benevolent  catholic  of  the 
approach  of  the  marquis  Galeazzo,  "\vith  orders  to  put 
everything  to  fire  and  sword,  had  hastened  to  the  valley 
of  Pragcla,  while  such  of  the  inhabitants  of  Bobbi  as  had 
escaped  the  massacre  had  made  their  way  to  Queyras,  over 
the  rocks  and  snows,  all  these  places  of  refuge  being  then 
under  the  rule  of  the  king  of  France. 

In  the  hope  of  excluding  the  Waldenses  from  this  hos- 
pitable country,  the  duchess  of  Savoy,  -who  seems  to  have 
taken  a  far  more  active  share  than  her  son  in  these  calam- 
itous events,  wrote  to  the  court  of  France  in  order  that 
the  Waldenses  might  be  restricted  within  their  own  valleys 
and  there  massacred ;  but  Mazarin  replied  that  humanity 
prescribed  to  him  the  duty  of  aifording  an  asylum  to  the 
fugitives. 

This  concession  enabled  the  latter  to  rally,  to  arm,  and 
to  organize  themselves,  with  every  prospect  of  returning  to 
their  native  country  more  numerous  than  they  had  left  it, 
for  in  these  retreats  many  of  their  co-rcligionists  from 
Queyras  and  Pragcla  joined  them.  Meantime,  an  ener- 
(198) 


G  I  A  N  A  V  E  L  .  199 

getic  and  able  man,  sustained,  doubtless,  by  the  liand  of 
God  (in  whom  none  had  ever  a  more  absolute  and  unques- 
tioning confidence  than  had  this  intrepid  warrior),  Captain 
Joshua  Gianavel,  Avho  alone  had  foreseen  the  contemplated 
treachery,  kept  the  hostile  army  in  check,  and  by  degrees 
drove  it  from  the  valleys. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  24th  of  April  was  the 
day  fixed  for  the  general  massacre  of  the  Waldenses ; 
troops  had  accordingly  been  quartered  in  all  the  larger 
villages  and  towns,  excepting  Rora,  which,  however,  it  was 
by  no  means  designed  to  spare.  On  the  morning  of  the 
day  of  extermination,  the  marquis  of  Saint-Damian  had 
despatched  from  Villar,  to  surprise  Rora,  a  battalion  of 
five  or  six  hundred  soldiers,  under  the  command  of  count 
Christopher  of  Luzerna,  who  Avas  called  count  of  Rora, 
that  village  being  his  appanage,  These  soldiers  had 
crossed  the  river,  and  were  ascending  the  little  hill  of 
Rumer,  when  Gianavel,  who  lived  at  the  foot  of  an  exten- 
sion of  the  mountain  towards  Luzerna,  saw  the  soldiers 
approaching  the  menaced  village.  He  at  once  hastened  to 
ascend  the  hill  by  a  different  route,  and  collecting  on  his 
wa^'-  six  men,  determined  as  himself,  and  excellent  marks- 
men, posted  them  i.dvantageously,  and  long  before  the 
troops  expected,  if  ai  all,  to  be  received  by  an  armed 
force,  and  even  before  they  deemed  it  requisite  to  form  in 
any  regular  order,  they  Vicre  received  by  a  fire  of  musketry 
from  front,  and  right  and  left,  so  surely  directed  that  seven 
soldiers  fell  dead ;  their  comrades  retrograded,  and  those 
in  the  rear,  imagining  there  was  a  numerous  ambush  at 
hand,  turned  round,  so  that  the  vanguard  were  separated 
from  the  main  body.  The  Waldenses  concealed  amid  the 
rocks,  which  rendered  it  impracticable  for  the  enemy  to 
ascertain  their  real  number,  fired  discharge  after  discharge, 


200  THE    WALDENSES. 

until  the  vanguard,  in  utter  confusion,  and  with  half  their 
number  slain,  also  turned  and  hastened  up  the  hill  they 
had  just  turned.  The  rear,  which  had  scarcely  attained 
the  summit,  seeing  the  van  returning,  themselves  hastened 
back  at  utmost  speed,  without  even  waiting  to  see  the 
assailants,  and  all  fled  together  towards  Villar ;  on  their 
way,  they  had  to  traverse  a  wood,  which  lies  between  the 
rnountains  and  the  Pelice.  Gianavel  and  his  men  pursued, 
but  in  such  a  manner  as  still  to  keep  out  of  sight ;  and, 
concealed,  as  they  advanced,  by  the  trees  and  shrubs, 
poured  a  murderous  fire  upon  the  fugitives. 

On  his  return  to  Rora,  Gianavel  informed  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  peril  which  had  menaced  them.  Ignorant  of 
the  massacres  which,  during  the  same  day,  had  been  per- 
petrated in  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  the  Rorans  went  to  the 
marquis  di  Pianeza  to  complain  of  the  aggression  which  had 
been  essayed  against  them.  He  affected  to  disclaim  the 
whole  proceeding.  "If  any  attempted  to  attack  you," 
said  he,  "  it  was  not  by  my  orders ;  the  troops  under  my 
command  would  never  commit  such  an  outrage.  It  must 
have  been  some  party  of  brigands  or  Piedmontcse  vaga- 
bonds, and  I  only  wish  you  had  cut  them  all  in  pieces. 
However,  I  will  take  care  that  no  such  thing  shall  occur 
again." 

Non  servanda  fides  hareticis  !  On  the  very  next  morn- 
ing, five  hundred  soldiers  were  despatched  to  accomplish 
what  the  other  detachment  had  failed  in  doing.  Gianavel 
was  again  on  foot ;  he  had  at  this  time  sixteen  men  with 
him,  a  small  force,  numerically,  but,  under  his  command, 
and  in  such  a  cause,  equivalent  to  an  army.  Of  these 
seventeen  men,  eleven  were  fully  armed,  the  rest  had  only 
slings.  Gianavel  disposed  them  in  three  parties,  two 
slingers  with  each  ;  the  post  he  had  selected  was  a  defile, 


GIANAVEL.  201 

in  which  scarcely  ten  tnen  couhl  manoeuvre.  No  sooner 
was  tlie  van  of  the  popish  detachment  engaged  in  this  de- 
file, than  the  Waldenses  fired ;  an  officer  and  ten  men  fell 
beneath  the  discharge,  which  was  immediately  followed  up 
by  a  vigorous  volley  of  stones  from  the  slings ;  disorder  at 
once  arose  in  the  enemy's  ranks,  and,  at  the  cry.  All  is 
lost!  save  yourselves  !  the  entire  troop  turned  round,  and 
commenced  a  precipitate  flight.  Gianavcl  and  his  men 
pursued  them,  leaping  from  rock  to  rock  like  panthers,  by 
their  agility,  their  vigour,  and  their  intrepidity,  so  multi- 
plying their  numbers,  that  the  enemy  had  no  idea  but  that 
they  were  a  large  force,  while  their  position  behind  the 
brushwood  and  the  rocks  enabled  them  to  take  that  deadly 
aim,  which,  with  the  enemy,  was  quite  impracticable ;  so 
that  no  fewer  than  fifty-two  of  the  soldiers  were  slain 
ere  they  made  good  their  retreat  to  the  plains  of  Luzerna. 

The  marquis  di  Pianeza,  thus  again  frustrated  in  his 
projects,  sent  count  Christopher  to  Rora,  to  assure  the 
inhabitants  of  his  friendly  intentions  towards  them,  and 
that  the  advance  of  the  troops  against  their  valley  had 
been  the  result  of  a  misunderstanding.  Certain  represen- 
tations, ho  said,  had  been  made  against  them,  the  falsity 
of  which  had  been  since  fully  ascertained ;  and  the}' 
had  now  nothing  further  to  fear.  lie  then  proceeded  to 
assemble  a  battalion  more  numerous  than  either  of  the 
previous,  fully  resolved  at  length  to  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose. It  would  seem  as  surprising  that  the  Waldenses 
should  permit  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  such  assu- 
rances, as  that  a  gentleman  should  make  them,  were  it 
not  that  the  former,  as  protestants,  regarded  lying  a  sin, 
whereas  the  latter,  as  a  propagandist,  deemed  it  a  virtue. 

Next  day,  the  27th  of  April,  a  whole  regiment  made  a 
rapid  march  upon  Rora,  occupied  the  approaches,  and  then 


202  THE  WALDENSES. 

finding  the  inhabitants  fled,  plundered  and  burned  the 
houses,  and  set  out  on  their  return  with  their  booty, 
drivino;  before  them  all  the  herds  of  the  Rorans,  Avho  had 
themselves  taken  refuge  in  Monte  Friolante.  Gianavel, 
with  his  men,  had  seen  the  advance  of  the  enemy,  but 
their  numbers  had  rendered  it  futile  for  him  to  assail 
them  on  their  way.  When,  however,  he  perceived  them 
returning,  laden  with  booty  and  encumbered  with  the 
herds  they  were  driving  before  them,  he  encouraged  his 
sixteen  companions,  and,  after  an  earnest  supplication  to 
Almighty  God,  hastened  to  occupy  an  advantageous  posi- 
tion at  a  place  called  Damassero.  Hence,  as  the  first 
ranks  of  the  enemy  appeared,  they  were  assailed  with  a 
fatal  discharge.  Unknowing  what  might  be  the  numbers  of 
the  assailing  force,  and  unwilling  to  abandon  their  booty, 
the  soldiers,  upon  witnessing  the  fall  of  their  comrades, 
turned  about,  and  drew  off  towards  Villar.  The  Wal- 
denses,  better  acquainted  with  the  locality  than  were  the 
foreigners,  took  a  bye-path,  which  led  them  past  the  en- 
emy, to  a  place  called  Pian-Pra,  a  commanding  post  near 
the  summit  of  the  mountain  that  separates  Rora  from  Vil- 
lar. Presently  the  hostile  army  made  its  appearance, 
advancing  slowly  with  its  booty,  and  in  complete  disorder, 
for  its  adversaries  had  disappeared,  and  it  fancied  that  it 
would  meet  with  no  further  obstruction. 

Suddenly,  a  discharge,  point  blank,  prostrated  fourteen 
or  fifteen  of  its  numbers.  The  soldiers,  instead  of  seekingr 
to  defend  themselves,  hurried  on  their  march  with  their 
booty.  They  were  now  on  the  slope  of  the  mountain,  and, 
availing  themselves  of  this  circumstance,  Gianavel's  party 
rolled  down  an  avalanche  of  great  stones  upon  them.  As 
they  were  hurrying  aside  to  avoid  this  storm,  the  Walden- 
Dos  with  fierce  shouts   dashed  down  upon  them  ;  this  com- 


G  I  A  N  A  V  E  L  .  203 

pleted  their  confusion,  anJ,  leaving  their  hooty  behind 
them,  they  fled,  each  man  for  himself.  The  great  bulk  of 
the  regiment  reached  Yillar,  but  many  remained  behind, 
slain  on  the  ascent,  or  hurled  from  the  precipices.  On 
regaining  the  Pian-Pra,  Gianavel  called  upon  his  men  to 
halt.  "  Let  us,"  he  said,  "return  thanks."  The  whole 
party  knelt.  "  0  Lord  God,"  exclaimed  their  intrepid 
leader,  "  we  bless  thee  for  having  preserved  us  !  Protect 
our  people  in  these  calamities,  and  increase  in  us  thy 
faith  !"  This  brief  address  was  followed  by  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  the  Apostle's  Creed,  and  the  Waldenses  then 
risincT,  soufjiht  their  families  in  their  mountain  retreat. 

The  marquis  di  Pianeza,  frantic  with  rage  and  shame 
at  hearino;  of  this  new  check,  commanded  that  a  simulta- 
neous  attack  should  be  made  upon  the  Waldenses  by  all 
the  royal  forces  from  Bagnolo,  Cavour,  Barges,  Bubiana, 
and  Villar.  All  these  were  to  assemble  on  a  given  day 
and  hour  at  Luzerna  ;  but  the  ardent  slaughterer  of  Bobbi, 
Mario  di  Bagnolo,  resolved  to  appropriate  the  entire  glory 
of  destroying  the  "miserable  handful  of  adventurers,"  as 
the  heroic  mountaineers  who  so  valiantly  defended  their  faith 
and  their  families  were  designated,  marched  to  the  attack 
two  hours  in  advance  of.  the  other  troops.  He  had  with 
him  three  companies  of  regulars,  one  of  Piedmontese 
volunteeers,  and  a  brigade  of  Irish,  who,  banished  by 
Cromwell  from  their  own  country  for  the  cruelties  exer- 
cised by  them  on  their  protestant  countrymen,  had  been 
welcomed  as  brothers  by  the  massacrers  of  the  Waldenses. 
These  worthies,  to  encourage  their  zeal,  had  been  promised 
the  gratuitous  cession  of  the  lands  depopulated  of  the 
"Waldenses  whom  they  should  kill,  so  that  fanaticism  and 
self-interest,  the  two  most  potent  incentives  to  courage, 
urired  them  on. 


204  THE     WALDENSES. 

Bagnolo  arranged  his  troops  in  two  squadrons,  one 
of  which  took  the  right  side,  the  other  the  left,  of  the 
valley  of  Rora.  Pie  reached,  without  resistance,  the  rocks 
of  Rumer,  signalized,  four  days  previously,  by  the  first 
victory  of  Gianavel,  and  in  which  that  chieftain  had  again 
entrenched  himself,  his  little  troop  being  now  augmented 
to  the  number  of  thirty  or  forty  men.  But  the  right  wing 
of  the  count  di  Bagnolo,  having  advanced  along  the 
heights,  Avere  above  the  rocks  of  Rumer,  and,  suddenly 
showing  themselves,  menaced  the  Waldenses  with  an 
attack  in  the  rear,  while  the  other  wing  of  the  enemy  as- 
sailed them  in  the  van.  Gianavel,  with  that  promptitude  of 
decision  and  that  energy  of  action  which  characterize 
military  genius,  at  once  saw  what  course  to  adopt,  and  at 
once  adopted  it.  'To  the  summit  !  he  cried;  and,  turning 
about,  he  left  the  troops  below  to  pursue  their  slow  and  toil- 
some ascent,  while  himself  and  his  men,  taking  steady  aim  at 
the  troops  above,  who  were  just  turning  the  point  of  the  hill, 
and  had  not  yet  had  time  to  form,  fired  a  deadly  volley, 
and  then  instantly  throwing  themselves  flat  on  their  faces, 
avoided  the  discharge  which  the  enemy  returned.  Amid 
the  smoke  of  that  discharge,  the  Waldenses  then  turned 
suddenly  to  1>he  right,  and,  sword  in  hand,  cut  their  way 
through  the  left  wing  of  the  assailants,  weakened  in  num- 
ber by  the  concentration  which  the  fire  of  the  Waldenses 
had  just  attracted  in  the  opposite  direction.  In  a  few 
moments,  they  were  on  the  summit  which  Gianavel  had 
indicated  to  them,  and  there,  posting  themselves  amongst 
the  rocks,  and,  strong  in  the  triple  energy  of  a  just  cause, 
confidence  in  their  God,  and  recent  success,  they  intrepidly 
faced  the  foe.  It  was  to  no  purpose  that  the  two  de- 
tachments, now  combined,  advanced  to  assail  them :  they 
could  not  get  beyond  a  certain  point ;  for  there  the  semi- 


GIANAVEL.  205 

circle  whicli  they  formed,  ^ith  each  surging  movement  on- 
Avard,  found  its  first  ranks  prostrated  by  the  unerring  fire 
of  the  practised  marksmen  above  themselves,  protected 
from  harm  by  their  position.  As  the  snow  melts  away 
IVom  the  hill-side  under  the  fire  of  the  sun,  so  did  these 
troops  melt  away  under  the  fire  of  the  Waldcnses,  till  at 
length,  their  heads  growing  confused  at  this  so  unexpected 
result,  a  panic  seized  them,  they  turned,  and  fled,  leaving 
sixty-five  of  their  number  dead  on  the  spot,  besides  the 
wounded  and  the  dead  whom  they  carried  off  with  them. 
The  Waldenses  wished  to  pursue  them  along  the  valley, 
but  Gianavel,  with  sounder  judgment,  hastening  along 
the  heights,  passed  the  fugitives  below,  and  awaited  them, 
with  his  invincible  fusileers,  at  a  narrow  pass  called  Pierro 
Capillo.  By  and  bye,  the  soldiers  came  slowly  on,  taking 
breath  after  their  flight,  and  observing  no  order,  in  the 
supposition  that  their  foes  had  departed.  All  at  once,  a 
fresh  discharge  of  fatal  musketry  assailed  them  ;  heavy 
rocks  rolled  down  upon  them  ;  and  then,  with  vehement 
shouts,  a  body  of  men,  whose  numbers,  amid  the  rocks  and 
brushwood,  they  could  not  count,  precipitated  themselves, 
sword  and  pistol  in  hand,  upon  them.  Resistance  was  not 
even  attempted  :  a  panic  terror,  or  rather  the  fear  of  the 
God  of  Jacob,  seized  upon  these  utterly  amazed  troops,  so 
that,  instead  of  fleeing,  as  best  they  might,  along  tlie  road 
before  them,  they  threw  themselves  over  the  rocks  and 
precipices,  or  essayed  to  let  themselves  dow"n  by  ropes  and 
roots,  so  that  most'  of  their  number  perished,  either 
drowned  in  the  torrent  below,  or  dashed  against  the  rocks, 
or  slain  by  the  lead  and  the  steel  of  their  adversaries. 
Their  leader  himself,  with  diSiculty  extricated  from  a 
deep  pool,  was  conveyed,  wounded,  bruised,  and  half- 
naked,  to  Luzerna,  where  he  died  a  few  days  afterwards. 
18 


206  THE    WALDENSES. 

So  great  was  the  exasperation  of  the  marquis  di  Pian- 
eza,  that  he  assembled  all  the  disposable  troops  under  his 
command,  and  actually  marched  ten  thousand  men  against 
the  little  commune  of  Rora,  defended  Avith  such  perseve- 
rance by  a  handful  of  mountaineers.  This  Avas  in  the 
commencement  of  May,  1655.  Three  thousand  soldiers 
advanced  from  Bagnolo,  three  thousand  from  Villar,  and 
six  thousand  from  Luzerna,  to  assail,  with  a  combined 
effort,  a  little  village  of  fifty  houses,  already  half  burned 
down. 

The  battalion  coming  from  Villar  arrived  first.  Gian- 
avel  attacked  it  from  the  heights;  but  meanwhile  the  other 
troops  occupied  the  lower  portion  of  the  valley,  pillaged 
the  village,  burned  the  buildings,  committed  the  most  mon- 
strous outrages,  and  carried  ofi"  as  prisoners  such  of  the 
wretched  inhabitants  as  had  not  perished  in  the  attack. 
The  position  had  become  untenable  ;  Gianavel  had  nothing 
now  to  defend ;  Eora  was  destroyed,  its  inhabitants  killed 
or  captives.  He  retired  with  his  heroic  cohort  to  the  valley 
of  Luzerna. 

The  next  day  he  received  from  the  marquis  di  Pianeza, 
a  letter  in  the  following  terms :  "  To  captain  Gianavel. 
Your  wife  and  daughters  are  in  my  hands,  having  been 
made  prisoners  at  Rora.  I  exhort  you,  for  the  last  time, 
to  abjure  your  heresy,  as  the  only  means  of  securing  from 
his  royal  highness  pardon  for  your  rebellion,  and  of  saving 
your  wife  and  daughters,  who  will  be  burned  alive  if  you 
do  not  surrender.  As  to  yourself,  if  you  persist  in  your 
obstinacy,  I  shall  not  trouble  myself  to  send  any  more 
troops  after  you,  but  simply  put  such  a  price  upon  your 
head  as,  had  you  the  devil  himself  in  you,  would  ensure 
your  being  taken,  dead  or  alive ;  and  if  you  fall  alive  into 


G  I A  N  A  V  E  L .  207 

my  hands,  be  sure  there  are  no  torments  so  cruel  but  that 
you  shall  undergo  them.  This  letter  is  for  your  guidance  : 
I  advise  you  to  profit  by  it."  This  was  Gianavel's  reply : 
"  There  is  no  torment  so  cruel  that  I  should  not  prefer  it 
to  the  abjuration  of  my  faith  ;  and  your  menaces  instead 
of  deterring  me  from,  fortify  me  still  more  firmly  in,  that 
faith.  As  to  my  wife  and  children,  they  well  know  how 
dear  they  are  to  me  ;  but  God  alone  is  master  of  their 
lives,  and  if  you  make  their  bodies  perish,  he  will  save 
their  souls.  May  he  receive  them  into  his  grace ;  them 
and  me,  if  it  befal  me  to  come  into  your  hands." 

A  price  was  immediately  set  upon  the  head  of  the  heroic 
mountaineer. 

A  son  was  left  to  him,  a  young  boy,  who  had  been  en- 
trusted to  the  charge  of  a  relative  at  Villar,  Fearing  that 
he  too  might  be  made  a  prisoner,  the  intrepid  father  con- 
veyed the  child  across  the  Alps  into  Dauphiny,  where  he 
left  him  in  the  care  of  a  friend.  Then,  after  giving  a  few 
days'  rest  to  his  devoted  band,  and  recruiting  its  numbers 
from  among  the  Waldenses  of  Dauphiny,  he  returned  to  the 
valleys,  and,  stronger,  more  formidable,  and  more  feared 
than  ever,  resumed  hostilities  against  the  enemies  of  his 
faith  and  of  his  people. 

Meanwhile  the  moderator  of  the  "Waldensian  churches, 
Leger,  had  repaired  to  Paris,  where  he  had  printed  a  man- 
ifesto, addressed  to  all  the  protestant  powers  of  Europe,  in 
reply  to  which,  expressions  of  the  most  vivid  sympathy 
and  the  most  active  interest  came  from  all  directions.  No 
foreign  power  took  so  energetic  and  spirited  a  part  in  be- 
half of  the  Waldenses  at  this  fatal  crisis,  as  England. 
Cromwell,  as  soon  as  he  was  informed  of  what  was  going 
on  in  the  valleys,  addressed  a  Latin  letter,  the  composition 


208  THE    WALDENSES. 

of  Milton,*  and  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation,  to 
the  duke  of  Savoy: — 

"  Most  serene  Prince, 
"  We  are  informed  by  letters  received  from  several  places 
in  the  vicinity  of  your  dominions,  that  the  subjects  of  your 
royal  highness,  professing  the  reformed  religion,  have  been 
commanded  by  an  edict,  published  by  your  authority,  to 
quit  their  habitations  and  lands,  within  three  days  after 
the  promulgation  of  the  said  edict,  under  pain  of  death, 
and  the  confiscation  of  their  property,  unless  they  shall 
enter  into  an  engagement  to  abjure  their  own,  and  to  em- 
brace the  Roman  catholic  faith,  before  the  end  of  twenty 
days.  We  have  learnt  also,  that,  regardless  of  their  hum- 
ble petitions  to  your  highness,  praying  that  you  would  be 
pleased  to  revoke  the  said  edict,  and  to  grant  the  same 
privileges  which  were  anciently  conceded  by  your  serene 
ancestors,  your  army  fell  upon  them,  cruelly  slaughtered 
great  numbers,  imprisoned  others,  and  drove  the  rest  to 
fly  for  refuge  to  desolate  places,  and  to  mountains  covered 
with  snow,  where  hundreds  of  families  are  reduced  to  such 
extremity,  that,  it  is  to  be  feared,  they  will  all  shortly 
perish  with  cold  and  hunger.  Upon  receiving  intelligence 
of  the  melancholy  condition  of  this  most  oppressed  people, 
it  was  impossible  not  to  feel  the  greatest  commiseration 
and  grief;  for  we  not  only  consider  ourselves  united  to 
them  by  common  ties  of  humanity,  but  by  those  of  the 
same  religion.  Feeling,  therefore,  that  we  are  invoked  by 
the  sacred  voice  of  brotherly  love,  we  declare  that  we 
should  fail  in  our  duty  to  ourselves,  to  God,  to  our  breth- 
ren, and  to  the  religion  we  profess,  if  we  were  not  deeply 

*  The  orijrinal,  in  the  handwriting  of  the  poet's  second  daughter, 
Mary,  is  preserved  in  the  State  Paper  Office. 


G I A  N  A  V  E  L .  200 

moved  by  a  sense  of  their  calamities,  and  if  ue  did  not 
employ  every  means  in  our  power  to  obtain  an  alleviation 
of  their  unparalleled  sufferings.  It  is  on  this  account  that 
we  most  earnestly  entreat,  and  conjure  your  highness,  in 
the  first  place,  to  call  to  mind  the  enactments  of  your 
serene  ancestors,  and  the  concessions  which  they  made  and 
confirmed  from  time  to  time  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses: 
which  concessions  were  granted,  no  doubt,  in  obedience  to 
the  will  of  God,  who  desires  that  liberty  of  conscience 
should  be  the  inviolable  right  of  every  man,  and  in  con- 
sideration of  the  merits  of  these  their  subjects,  who  have 
ever  been  found  valiant  and  faithful  in  war  and  obedient 
in  time  of  peace.  And  as  your  serene  highness  has  gra- 
ciously and  nobly  trodden  in  the  steps  of  your  predecessors 
in  all  other  things,  we  again  and  again  beseech  you,  that 
you  will  not  depart  from  them  in  this  instance,  but  that 
you  will  revoke  this  edict,  and  any  other  that  is  oppressive 
to  3^our  subjects,  in  consequence  of  their  professing  the 
reformed  religion ;  that  you  will  restore  them  to  their  pa- 
ternal habitations  and  property  ;  that  you  will  confirm  their 
ancient  rights  and  privileges;  that  you  will  cause  repar- 
ation to  be  made  for  their  injuries ;  and  order  an  end  to 
be  put  to  all  vexatious  proceedings  against  llioni.  If  your 
highness  will  comply  vith  this  request,  you  will  do  what 
is  most  acceptable  to  God  ;  you  will  comfort  and  support 
the  minds  of  those  unhappy  sufferers,  and  you  will  be  con- 
ferring a  favour  upon  the  neighbouring  pvotcstant  states, 
and  especially  upon  us,  who  will  ever  consider  such  clem- 
ency i\a  the  effect  of  our  intercession;  which  will  constrain 
us  to  do  every  kind  office  in  return,  and  will  be  the  means 
not  only  of  strengthening,  but  of  renewing  and  increasing 
the  relations  and  friendship  which  have  subsisted  between 
this  commonwealth  and  your  dominions.  Pruraising  our- 
18*  0 


210  THE    WALDENSES. 

selves  much  from  your  justice  and  moderation,  we  heartily 
pray  God  to  direct  your  minds  and  thoughts,  and  so  to 
grant  you  and  your  people  the  blessings  of  peace  and  truth, 
and  to  prosper  all  your  undertakings. 

"  Given  at  our  court  at  Westminster,  the  25th  day  of 

May,  1655. 

"  Oliver,  Protector." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  court  of  Savoy,  or  rather  the 
duchess,  under  the  influence  of  the  propaganda  and  of  the 
pontificial  nuncio,  pursued  with  vigour  the  great  aim  of  the 
papists,  the  expulsion  or  extermination  of  the  evangelical 
worshippers  of  the  valleys.  From  Mazarin,  who  had 
refused  to  deny  the  Waldenses  a  refuge  in  France,  a  pro- 
mise was  obtained,  that,  at  all  events,  no  Frenchmen  should 
aid  the  Waldenses  in  their  valleys. 

The  captain  of  the  Swiss  guards  of  the  duke  of  Savoy,  a 
native  of  Glaris,  in  which  canton  there  were  a  number  of 
catholic  families  dissatisfied  with  living  in  a  protestant 
country,  proposed  to  Charles  Emanuel  to  exchange  these 
families  for  an  equal  number  of  protestant  families  from 
the  valleys.  Cromwell,  on  his  part,  offered  to  settle  the 
Waldenses  in  Ireland,  in  place  of  the  natives  whom  he  had 
found  it  expedient  to  expel.  But  the  reply  of  the  mode- 
rator was  more  conformable  with  the  interests  of  his  own 
country.  He  supplicated  the  Protector  rather  to  send  a 
plenipotentiary  to  Turin,  to  negotiate  the  re-establishment 
of  the  Waldenses  in  their  valleys,  than  to  remove  them. 
The  plenipotentiary  sent  in  accordance  with  this  request 
was  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  who  performed  a  leading  part 
in  the  pacification  of  this  unhappy  country,  and  Avho  after- 
wards wrote  a  remarkable  history  of  the  events  which  had 
occurred  there. 


GIANAVEL.  211 

Most  of  the  protestant  powers  added  their  representa- 
tions to  those  of  England  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses,  and 
celebrated  fasts  and  made  pecuniary  collections  in  their 
interest,  Cromwell  taking  the  lead  also  in  this  matter.  lie 
had  a  narrative  printed  and  dispersed  through  Britain,  set- 
ting forth  the  distress  of  the  Waldensian  church,  and  recom- 
mending a  general  subscription.  lie  himself  set  the  exam- 
ple of  liberality,  by  contributing  two  thousand  pounds  from 
the  privy  purse  ;  and  a  sum  was  shortly  raised  amounting 
to  not  less  than  thirty-eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty- 
one  pounds,  of  which,  however,  only  about  twenty-two  thou- 
sand reached  the  Waldenses.  Charles  II.  at  the  Restora- 
tion, to  his  everlasting  disgrace,  appropriated  the  rest  of 
this  sum  to  the  gratification  of  his  mistresses,  saying,  Avhen 
interrogated  about  it,  that  he  was  under  no  obligation  to 
pay  the  debts  of  a  usurper  !* 

Another  measure  of  the  Protector  was  to  address  letters 
of  urgent  recommendation  to  the  protestant  sovereigns  and 

*  The  subsequent  history  of  this  matter  is  curious.  The  sixteen 
thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  pounds,  -which  Charles 
so  infamously  squandered,  had  been  reserved  by  the  Protector  as  a 
permanent  fund  for  the  assistance  of  the  Waldenses  in  time  to  come. 
In  the  reign  of  William  III.,  the  queen  consort,  Mary,  desirous  of 
effacing  tlie  national  disgrace,  gave  to  the  Waldenses,  during  her 
life,  an  annual  pension  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds. 
This  ceased  with  her  death.  It  was  afterwards  renewed  by  queen 
Anno,  and  the  sum  increased  to  five  hundred  pounds.  This  sum 
continued  to  be  issued  from  the  royal  exchequer,  until  the  year 
1797,  under  the  name  of  royal  bounty.  The  valleys  coming  for 
a  time  under  the  dominion  of  France,  the  pension  was  then  dis- 
continued, and  the  subject  was  soon  lost  sight  of  by  those  in  power. 
At  length.  Dr.  Gilly  and  other  British  Christians  succeeded,  in  1827, 
in  calling  the  attention  of  the  government  to  the  subject,  and  in 
having  the  annuity  restored.  It  was,  however,  reduced  to  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven  pounds. 


212  THE    WALDENSES. 

states,  that  they  should  come  forward  in  support  of  the 
protestant  interest.  To  the  king  of  Sweden  he  represented 
the  noble  conduct  which  his  royal  progenitors  had  pursued, 
when  the  reformed  religion  was  menaced  in  Germany.  In 
a  strain  of  equal  eloquence  he  explained  to  the  king  of 
Denmark  the  motives  of  policy  which  should  induce  all 
protestant  princes  to  make  a  common  cause  with  those  who 
were  defending  such  as  were  persecuted  for  the  reformed 
faith.  "  We  proclaim,"  said  he,  in  a  tone  which  was  likely 
to  fix  the  resolution  of  the  wavering,  "that  we  are  pre- 
pared, in  conjunction  with  your  majesty,  and  our  other 
allies  of  the  reformed  religion,  to  use  every  means  in  our 
power  to  relieve  the  wants,  and  secure  the  safety  and 
liberty  of  the  unhappy  sufferers." 

In  a  letter  to  the  States  General,  he  reminded  their  Hich 
Mightinesses  of  the  effectual  struggles  which  they  them- 
selves had  happily  made  in  the  adverse  times  of  the 
protestant  church  in  their  own  country,  and  declared  his 
readiness  to  take  any  measures,  in  conjunction  with  them, 
for  the  preservation  of  the  same  faith  in  the  valleys  of 
Piedmont.  The  Protector's  negotiation  with  the  king  of 
France  was  still  more  honourable  to  his  character,  because 
he  had  the  diflBcult  undertaking  of  persuading  one  Roman 
catholic  prince  to  act  against  another.  His  first  letter  to 
his  Most  Christian  Majesty  boldly  touched  upon  a  very 
delicate  topic,  and  intimated  that  the  troops  of  France  had 
been  concerned  in  the  cruelties  in  Piedmont. 

"  Most  Serene  King, 

"  The  groans  of  those  wretched  men,  the  protestant 
inhabitants  of  Luzerna  and  Angrogna,  and  other  Alpine 
valleys,  within  the  dominions  of  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who 
were  lately  most  cruelly  murdered,  and  the  lamentable 


GIANAVEL.  213 

tidings  of  tlie  despoliation  and  the  banishment  of  the  sur- 
vivors of  this  massacre,  which  have  reached  our  ears,  have 
constrained  us  to  write  this  letter  to  your  majesty:  more 
particuhirly  as  it  has  been  reported  to  us  (with  what  truth 
has  not  yet  been  ascertained),  that  this  carnage  has  been 
committed  by  some  of  your  own  troops,  conjointly  with 
those  of  the  duke  of  Savoy.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to 
believe  that  such  proceedings  have  been  resorted  to,  for 
they  are  neither  consistent  with  the  principles  of  good 
government,  nor  with  those  of  your  majesty's  wise  ances- 
tors, who  judged  that  they  Avcre  best  consulting  their  own 
interests,  and  the  peace  not  only  of  their  own  kingdom, 
but  of  all  Christendom,  by  permitting  their  subjects  of  the 
reformed  religion  to  live  securely  and  quietly  under  their 
protecting  sceptre :  in  return  for  which  indulgence,  those 
grateful  men  did  often  perform  the  most  eminent  services 
for  their  sovereigns,  both  in  peace  and  war.  The  dukes 
of  Savoy,  in  like  manner,  were  wont  to  treat  their  subjects 
of  the  Alpine  valleys  with  the  same  benignity;  who,  on 
their  side,  also  displayed  the  most  devoted  loj^alty,  and 
never  spared  either  their  lives  or  their  fortunes  in  the 
service  of  their  princes.  We  feel  confident,  that  your 
majesty's  influence  and  authority  with  the  duke  of  Savoy 
are  such,  that  if  you  would  only  employ  your  mediation, 
and  express  your  good  wishes,  you  would  obtain  indemnity 
for  these  poor  people,  and  their  restoration  to  their  country 
and  former  privileges.  Such  an  act  would  not  only  be 
worthy  of  your  majesty,  and  of  the  wise  example  of  your 
ancestors,  but  would  re-assure  your  own  subjects,  who 
would  then  feel  that  they  need  entertain  no  fears  on  their 
own  account ;  and  it  would  conciliate  your  protestant  con- 
federates and  allies,  and  bind  them  to  your  majesty  by  the 
strongest  ties  of  respect  and  affection.     With  regard  to 


214  THE    WALDENSES. 

ourselves,  whatever  indulgence  shall  be  conceded  to  your 

own  subjects  of  the  reformed  religion,  or  obtained  by  your 

intercession  for  the  subjects  of  others,  will  be  received  not 

only  Avith  the  same,  but  even  with  greater  gratitude  than 

we  could  express  for  any  personal  favour  that  we  hope  to 

derive  from  your  majesty's  friendship. 

"  Given  at  our  court  at  Westminster,  the  25th  of  May, 

1655. 

"  Oliver,  Protector." 

In  a  second  letter,  Cromwell  gave  the  king  of  France 
to  understand,  that  he  expected  him,  not  only  to  employ 
his  mediation  Avith  the  duke  of  Savoy,  in  behalf  of  the 
Waldenses,  but  to  afford  shelter  and  protection  to  such  as 
should  fly  for  refuge  into  the  French  dominions. 

"  Most  Serene  and  most  Potent  King, 

"  I  am  happy  to  understand,  from  your  majesty's  letter 
in  answer  to  mine  of  the  25th  of  May  last,  that  I  was  not 
wrono-  in  the  opinion,  that  those  most  cruel  murders,  and 
barbarous  massacres,  committed  by  certain  troops  of  yours 
upon  the  professors  of  the  reformed  religion  in  Savoy, 
had  neither  your  command  nor  authority.  I  am  also  ex- 
tremely rejoiced  to  find  that  your  majesty  has  signified 
your  strong  disapprobation  to  your  military  commanders, 
who  took  upon  themselves  to  perpetrate  such  atrocities 
without  your  orders ;  and  that  you  have  remonstrated  with 
the  duke  of  Savoy  upon  the  subject  of  such  monstrous 
cruelty,  and  have  interposed  your  influence  and  good 
ofiices  with  so  much  humanity  and  earnestness,  for  the  re- 
storation of  those  unhappy  exiles.  I  did  hope  that  that 
prince  would  have  conceded  something  to  the  intercession 
of  jour  majesty ;  but  since  neither  your  mediation,  nor  that 


GIAXAVEL.  215 

of  the  other  sovereigns  and  states,  has  been  of  any  avail  in 
their  favour,  I  have  thought  it  mj  imperative  duty  to  send 
an  ambassador    extraordinary  to  the  duke,  to   give  a   full 
explanation  of  my  sentiments,  in  regard   to   his   excessive 
cruelty  towards  the  professors  of  the    same   religion  Avith 
ourselves,  on  no  other  account  but  their  religion.     And  in 
order  to  promote  the  success  of  this  mission,  I  trust  your 
majesty  will  be  pleased  to  renew  your   remonstrances,  and 
to  give    them   greater   weight   than  before :    and   as  your 
majesty  has  already  declared  yourself  responsible  for  the 
fidelity  of  these  poor  people  to  their  prince,  so  you  will 
now   take  upon  yourself  to  guarantee  their  security  and 
protection,  that  repetition  of  such  inhuman  cruelty  may  not 
be  inflicted  upon  them  again.     We  cannot  but  expect  this 
from  your  majesty,  as  being  nothing  but  a  just  and  royal 
proceeding,  and   perfectly  consistent   with    the   benignity 
and  clemency  with  which  you  have  watched  over  the  safety 
and  welfare  of  so  many  of  your  subjects  who  profess  the 
same  religion.     By  such  an  act  you  will  conciliate  the  affec- 
tions of  all  the  protestants  throughout  your  kin^^dom,  who 
have  given  you  so  many  proofs  of  their  loyalty  and  attach- 
ment ;    and  you  will  satisfy  those  of  foreign  nations,  that 
you  are  not  implicated  in  this   iniquity,   however   much 
your  ministers  of  state   and  commanders  may  be :   more 
especially  if  your  majesty  will  punish  those  ministers  and 
commanders  who  have  presumed,  upon  their  own  authority 
and  out  of  their  own  malignity,  to  commit  such  monstrous 
atrocities.    In  the  mean  time,  since  your  majesty  disavows 
this  most  inhuman  and  detestable  policy,  I  am  confident 
you   will   give  shelter  and  protection   to  such  of  the  dis- 
tressed refugees   as  shall  fly  into  your  dominions  for  an 
asylum,  and  will   not   suff"er  any  of  your  own  subjects  to 
assist  the  duke  of  Savoy  against  them.      It  remains  for 


216  THE    WALDENSES. 

me  to  assure  your  majesty  of  the  value  I  set  upon  your 
friendship,  and  of  my  readiness,  at  all  times  to  give  proof 
of  the  sincerity  of  my  respect. 

"  Given  at  our  court  at  Westminster,  July,  31,  1655." 

In  pursuance  of  this  interposition,  Louis  XIV.  ordered 
Lesdiguieres  to  give  a  favourable  reception  to  all  fugitive 
Waldenses,  and  to  assure  them  of  his  royal  protection.  In 
the  valleys  of  Qucyras  and  Pragela,  belonging  to  France, 
men  took  up  arms  in  support  of  their  persecuted  brethren. 
Many  men  deserted  from  the  regular  army  for  the  same 
purpose  ;  and  at  about  this  time  Gianavcl  returned  to  the 
valleys  with  his  reinvigorated  and  reinforced  troop. 

Captain  Giaheri,  a  native  of  Pramol,  had  retired  to  the 
valley  of  Perosa,  in  the  confines  of  France,  with  the  in- 
habitants of  Bubiana  and  Angrogna,  fugitives  under  the 
decree  of  22d  April.  A  month  afterwards,  he  returned 
at  the  head  of  these  exiles,  supported  by  their  co-religion- 
ists of  Pragela,  and  re-established  them  in  the  valleys 
of  Angrogna  and  Pramol.  He  then  wrote  to  Gianavel  to 
join  him.  Tlie  latter  had,  at  first,  taken  a  position  on  a 
lofty  mountain,  called  la  Pelaya  di  Geymeto,  whence  he 
had  essayed  an  attack  upon  Luzernella,  a  catholic  village, 
half  a  league  from  Luzerna.  Repulsed  by  numbers,  he 
had  effected  a  masterly  retreat,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
received  in  the  leg  a  bullet,  which  was  never  extracted. 
The  wound,  however,  did  not  prevent  him  from  pursuing 
his  expeditions;  and  this  attempt  upon  Luzernelhi,  thou<Tli 
in  itself  frustrated,  had  important  results,  for  it  gave  a 
new  aspect  to  that  war  of  extermination  in  which,  hitherto, 
the  Waldenses  had  only  acted  on  the  defensive.  Inex- 
pressible terror  now  began  to  agitate  the  Piedmontese 
towns  that  lay  nearest  to  the  mountains;  and  each  insisted 


GIANAVEL.  217 

upon  having  its  entrenchments  and  its  garrison.  Some 
Irish  troops,  for  example,  were  garrisoned  at  Bubiana, 
but  they  committed  such  excesses  there,  that  the  inhabi- 
tants ^vcre  necessitated  to  expel  them  ;  and  thus  the  per- 
secutors began  to  destroy  one  another, 

Giaheri  effected  his  junction  with  Gianavel  on  the  2Tth 
May  on  the  banks  of  the  Angrogna,  and  by  this  combina- 
tion the  two  warriors  became  infinitely  more  formidable 
than  ever.  The  first  enterprise  which  they  essayed  in 
common  was  directed  against  Garsigliano,  wiiich  they 
attempted  to  surprise  that  same  evening ;  but  troops  has- 
tening, at  the  sound  of  the  tocsin,  from  all  the  adjacent 
villages,  they  were  obliged  to  retire,  carrying  off  with  them 
only  some  cattle,  and  six  yoke  of  o«en.  Next  morning, 
at  day-break,  having  strengthened  themselves  by  prayer, 
and  feeling  the  urgency  of  some  energetic  demonstration, 
in  order  to  save  their  country,  they  attacked  the  town  of 
San  Segonzo,  and  took  it.  To  protect  themselves,  in  the 
assault,  from  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  the  Av^ildenscs  rolled 
before  them  great  bags  full  of  hay,  in  which  the  bullets 
showered  upon  them  from  the  walls  buried  themselves, 
without  touching  one  of  the  besiegers.  On  reaching  the 
foot  of  the  entrenchments,  they  set  fire  to  the  hay,  the 
smoke  of  which  hid  them  from  the  townspeople  while  they 
were  battering  in  the  gates  :  these  once  thrown  down,  they 
rushed  in  impetuously,  and,  after  effecting  great  slaughter, 
retired  with  considerable  booty.  An  entire  Irish  regiment, 
numbering  from  seven  to  eight  hundred  men,  was  cut  to 
pieces,  with  six  hundred  and  fifty  Piedmontese  troops :  all 
such  of  the  inhabitants  as  presented  themselves  unarmed 
were  spared,  and  only  a  portion  of  them  taken  away  pris- 
oners.    The  town  w^as  then  burned. 

It  was  a  terrible  execution ;  but  tenible  as  it  was,  it  was 
19 


218  THE    WALDENSES. 

expedient,  in  the  essential  necessity  which  the  Walden- 
sians  felt,  of  making  their  strength  appreciated  by  foes 
who  had  hitherto  acted  towards  them  as  towards,  sheep, 
who  were  to  permit  themselves  to  be  slaughtered  unresist- 
ingly. Besides,  the  Waldensian  valleys  had  been  so  cru- 
elly devasted,  the  blood  that  had  been  shed  cried  out  so 
loud,  the  irritation  had  become  so  profound,  that,  without 
attributing  such  reprisals  to  the  mere  spirit  of  vengeance, 
one  may  fairly  regard  them  as  a  consequence — a  necessity. 
They  were  useful,  moreover,  as  forcibly  impressing  on  the 
persecutors  the  fact  that  the  persecuted  were  a  people  not 
altogether  so  despicable  as  had  been  supposed.  Men  heed, 
it  is  said,  only  those  they  love,  or  those  they  fear  ;  the 
Waldenses,  sure  of  not  being  loved,  were  fain  to  make 
themselves  feared.     They  effectually  attained  this  object. 

Already  the  taking  of  San  Segonzo  was  w^orth  the  gain 
of  a  battle  to  them.  They  had  made  fourteen  hundred 
enemies  bite  the  dust,  while  the  loss  on  their  own  side  had 
been  but  seven  men ;  a  fact  which,  incredible  as  it  may 
seem,  was  not  only  a  fact,  but  became  immediately  known 
as  such,  and  diffused  a  panic  terror  of  Gianavel  and  Gia- 
heri  through  all  the  surrounding  towns,  which  thereupon 
formed  a  league  for  their  common  defence,  and  arranged 
telegraphic  signals,  which,  from  the  bell-towers,  Avere  to 
give  warning  of  the  approach,  in  any  direction,  of  the  Wal- 
denses, and  to  indicate  their  position. 

The  population,  who  suffered  at  once  from  the  inter- 
ruption of  trade,  the  maintenance  of  the  troops,  and  the 
incursions  of  the  Waldenses,  were  loud  in  their  demands 
for  peace. 

The  marquis  de  Pianeza  endeavoured  to  get  rid  of  his 
antagonists  by  setting  a  price  upon  the  heads  of  their 
leaders ;  but  their  numbers,  so  far  from  diminishing  were 


G  I  AN  AY  EL.  o-jQ 

augmented  daily  b}'^  new  recruits  from  Queyras  and  Pra- 
gela.  By  the  2d  June,  they  consisted  of  four  companies, 
commanded  respectively  by  Gianavcl,  Giaheri,  Laurens, 
and  Benet.  In  a  council  of  war,  these  four  captains  re- 
solved to  attack  Brichcrasio.  In  order  to  execute  this 
design,  the  four  companies  were  to  take  different  routes, 
so  as  not  only  to  surprise  the  town,  but  also  to  check  any 
succours  that  might  advance  towards  it.  Accordingly, 
Gianavel  occupied  the  slopes  of  San  Giovanni  and  La  Tay- 
area,  in  order  to  oppose  the  troops  from  La  Torre  and 
Luzerna;  Laurens  posted  himself  near  Rocappiatta,  to  cut 
off  the  succours  from  San  Segonzo,  which  had  been  par- 
tially rebuilt ;  while  Giaheri,  descending  into  the  plains  of 
Bricherasio,  proceeded  to  devastate  it  on  his  way  to  the 
town  itself:  but  the  tocsin  sounding,  the  garrisons  of  the 
adjacent  towns  hastened  out  in  such  numbers,  as  to  cover 
Brichcrasio,  and  to  compel  Giaheri  to  retrograde  to  the 
hills  of  San  Giovanni,  where  Gianavel  had  kept  in  check 
the  troops  who  had  advanced  in  that  direction,  and  who 
were  now  attacked  with  such  impetuosity  by  the  combined 
Waldensian  forces,  that  they  fled  after  a  short  resistance, 
leaving  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  their  number  dead  on  the 
field,  while  the  Waldcnses  had  but  one  man  slain. 

Gianavel  next  repaired  to  the  mountain  Palaya  di  Gey- 
meto.  Opposite  this  hill  was  the  town  of  Villar,  which 
had  hitherto  escaped  destruction  at  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  by  reason  of  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  who 
had  catholicized.  Gianavel  sent  word  to  these  men  of 
Villar,  that  they  must  forthwith,  by  joining  him,  augment 
the  number  of  the  defenders  of  their  common  country,  or, 
on  refusal,  be  treated  as  apostates,  traitors,  and  enemies. 
Upon  this  energetic  appeal,  the  Villarons,  from  fear  or 
from   patriotism,  joined   the   rough  warrior  who  had  ad- 


220  THE    WALDENSES. 

dressed  it  to  them  ;  and  ■who,  his  forces  thus  increased  to 
more  than  six  hundred  men,  now  resolved  upon  recovering 
the  protestant  capital  of  the  valleys — the  town  of  La  Torre. 
The  attempt  was  made,  and  failed ;  but  more  than  three 
hundred  of  the  enemy's  troops  fell  in  the  defence  of  the 
place. 

Gianavcl  and  Giaheri  having  established  their  head 
quarters  on  one  of  the  heights  of  Angrogna,  called  Le 
Verne,  found  it  necessary  to  take  energetic  measures  for 
the  support  of  their  troops,  and,  accordingly,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Crussol,  a  village  situated  in  the  valley  of  the  Po, 
having  inflicted  much  injury  on  the  Waldenses  during  the 
recent  massacres,  Giaheri  resolved  to  put  them  under  couy 
tribution.  He  accordingly  departed  in  the  night,  at  the 
head  of  four  hundred  fifty  men,  and  next  morning,  at  day- 
break, before  the  Crusolians  could  adopt  any  defensive 
measures,  their  village  was  taken  possession  of ;  they  them- 
selves fled  unimpeded  to  a  large  cavern  in  the  vicinity, 
and  the  Waldenses  drove  off  more  than  four  hundred 
cattle  and  six  hundred  sheep,  Avhich  were  transported 
to  the  mountain  Lionza,  and  there  portioned  among  the 
victors. 

Meanwhile,  the  catholics  of  San  Segonzo  and  the  neigh- 
bouring; villages  had  marched  to  attack  the  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men  left  at  Angrogna  ;  but  were  vigorously  repulsed 
by  Laurens  and  Benet.  In  their  retreat  they  came  upon 
an  unhappy  Waldensian,  Pictro  Reggio,  solitary  and  un- 
armed, whom  they  seized,  and  put  to  a  cruel  death. 

Two  day  afterwards,  15th  of  June,  1G55,  the  marquis 
di  Piancza,  having  set  on  foot  all  the  troops  under  his 
command,  sustained  by  a  regiment  which  had  just  arrived 
under  the  orders  of  M.  de  Marolles,  advanced  to  attack 
Gianavcl  in   Angrogna.     The    troops,   who  were  in   four 


GIA  NAVEL.  221 

divisions,  were  to  strike  all  at  once  ;  but  this  simultaneity  of 
operations  could  not  be  effected,  by  reason  of  the  different 
routes  which  the  army  had  followed,  and  the  points,  remote 
from  each  other,  which  it  had  occupied.  The  detachment 
arriving  by  Roccapiatta,  gave  the  signal  fur  attack  prema- 
turely, so  that  Gianavcl,  who  had  with  him  only  three 
hundred  men,  had  obtained  an  advantage  over  the  first 
assailants,  before  he  was  assailed,  in  his  rear,  by  the 
troops  arriving  from  Pramol, 

In  order  to  keep  them  separate,  he  at  once  made  his  way 
to  the  heights  of  Roccamanante  ;  but  there  he  found  him- 
self fronted  by  the  troops  arriving  from  San  Giovanni, 
and  at  the  same  moment  he  perceived  the  detachment  from 
La  Torre  advancing. 

In  this  critical  position,  assailed  from  every  direction, 
and  having  on]y  half  of  his  men  with  him,  the  hero  of 
Rora,  quick  of  eye  and  prompt  in  execution,  retrograded 
before  the  battalion  from  Roccapiatta  had  time  to  form, 
dashed  through  the  centre  of  that  from  Pramol,  and  then, 
as  he  had  so  successfully  done  at  Rora,  took  up  a  position 
on  the  brow  of  a  hill,  the  formation  of  which,  on  the 
other  side,  was  a  succession  of  gentle  slopes,  but,  on  the 
other,  a  sharp  and  precipitous  descent.  The  four  hostile 
battalions  Avere  drawn  up  at  the  foot  of  the  slope.  Thus 
hemmed  in  between  a  rugged  precipice,  and  an  army  ten 
times  more  numerous  than  his  own  force,  Gianavel  main- 
tained unbroken  a  defensive  attitude  for  nearly  five  hours  : 
then,  perceiving  some  indications  of  lassitude  and  hesita- 
tion in  the  opposing  ranks,  Gianavel,  having  first  raised 
his  hands  to  heaven,  and  exclaimed,  "  Oh  God  !  it  is  in 
thy  cause  !  aid  and  preserve  us  !"  gave  the  word  to  his 
men,    "Forward!"    and,    like    an    avalanche    of    pikes, 

swords,    and    bullets,    the    Waldenses    dashed    down    the 
19* 


222  THEWALDENSES. 

slopes  with  all  the  impetuosity  of  long  pent-up  valour. 
Without  awaiting  their  shock,  the  enemy  fell  back,  for  the 
purpose  of  deploying  in  the  plain.  By  this  manoeuvre 
they  weakened  their  line :  the  impetus  of  the  Waldenses 
broke  it.  Utter  disorder  ensued,  and  those  three  thou- 
sand men  fled  in  panic  fear,  pursued  by  the  Waldenses, 
who  killed  more  than  five  hundred  of  their  number, 
themselves  having  but  one  man  killed  and  two  wounded. 

But,  unhappily,  the  work  did  not  end  here.  Having 
cleared  the  basin  of  Angrogna  from  these  invaders,  Gian- 
avel  returned  to  his  entrenchments,  at  the  same  moment 
that  Giaheri  arrived  from  Pragela.  The  troops  of  both 
leaders  were  fatigued,  the  one  with  fighting,  the  other  with 
marching  ;  those  of  Gianavel  had  eaten  nothing  since  the 
morning.  While  they  were  hastily  refreshing  themselves, 
their  leader  went  to  reconnoitre  the  position  of  the  enemy, 
and  found  tliat  they  were  rallying  in  the  plain  of  San 
Giovanni,  but  that  the  various  corps  were  still  dispersed, 
and  evidently  without  the  least  idea  of  another  attack. 
The  indefatigable  Waldensian  general  at  once  called  his 
men  together,  and  having  descended  unperceived,  fell  like 
lightning  upon  the  heedless  foe,  who  were  a  second  time 
put  to  the  rout,  leaving  one  hundred  of  their  number  dead 
on  the  field.  The  triumph,  however,  threatened  to  be  a 
calamity  far  worse  than  a  defeat,  for  in  the  rapid  engage- 
ment, Gianavel,  that  leader  whom  the  Waldenses  could 
not  have  replaced,  was  hit  by  a  ball,  Avhich,  entering  the 
chest,  passed  completely  through  his  body.  The  mouth 
was  at  once  filled  with  blood;  he  fainted,  and  for  a  mo- 
ment his  soldiers  thought  him  dead :  reviving,  he  entrusted 
the  command  to  Giaheri,  to  whom  he  gave  his  instructions, 
amid  the  tears  and  prayers  of  his  loved  and  loving  soldiers. 


G  I A  N  A  V  E  L  . 


223 


He  was  conveyed  on  a  litter  to  Pinachc,  where,  after  six 
weeks'  suffering,  liis  wound  healed. 

His  hist  direction,  on  quitting  Giaheri,  had  been  to  un- 
dertake nothing  further  that  day,  on  account  of  the  fatigued 
condition  of  their  troops;  but  an  emissary  coming  with 
information  that  the  town  of  Osasco  couhl  be  easily  taken, 
Giaheri,  in  wliom  intrepidity  ever  got  the  better  of  pru- 
dence, and  who  was  eager  to  signalize  himself  by  some 
effective  stroke,  took  with  him  a  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers, 
and  marched  towards  Osasco,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
emissary.  That  emissary  was  a  traitor:  he  led  Giaheri 
into  an  ambush,  where  a  squadron  of  cavalry  fell  furiously 
upon  the  Waldenses,  and  absolutely  overpowered  them. 
In  this  last  struggle  Giaheri  surportcd  himself  in  valour  : 
seeing  he  had  been  betrayed,  he  first  slew  the  traitor,  and 
then,  having  invoked  the  aid  of  God,  threw  himself  with 
his  men,  sword  in  hand,  upon  the  Savoy  cavalry,  and  made 
terrible  slaughter  of  them  ;  and  it  was  not  until  he  was 
absolutely  covered  with  wounds,  that  he  fell.  Ilis  son  died 
by  his  side,  and  of  all  his  men,  but  one  survived,  who, 
having  concealed  himself  for  some  hours  in  a  marsh,  swam 
the  Clusone  at  night,  and  conveyed  the  intelligence  of  their 
deplorable  loss  to  his  countrymen. 

Giaheri  was  a  man  zealous  alike  in  the  service  of  God, 
and  in  the  cause  of  his  country ;  brave  as  a  lion,  humble 
as  a  lamb,  and  ever  assigning  the  praise  of  his  victories  to 
the  Lord ;  a  master  of  the  scriptures,  and  well  versed  in 
controversy;  a  man  of  great  intellect,  and  whose  only  fault 
was  the  incapacity  to  moderate  his  valour. 


Cljaptn  CmnitiHlj, 


NEGOTIATIONS  AND  CONCESSIONS. 

The  death  of  Gialieri,  and  the  supposed  mortal  wound 
of  Gianavel,  raised  the  courage  of  the  papists,  and  perse- 
cution seemed  to  acquire,  so  far,  a  new  impulse.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  public  opinion  pronounced  itself,  more  and 
more  energetically,  in  favour  of  the  Waldenscs.  The  ad- 
mirers of  military  skill  and  soldierly  daring  were  interested 
by  the  exploits  of  the  fallen  leaders  and  their  heroic  fol- 
lowers ;  the  sufferings  of  the  Waldensian  martyrs  exalted 
the  Waldensian  cause  in  the  eyes  of  the  pious.  Soldiers 
from  almost  all  countries  came  and  offered  their  services  to 
the  persecuted  folk.  In  the  number,  were  the  French 
lieutenant-general  Descombies,  and  the  Swiss  colonel, 
Andrion ;  the  latter  of  whom  had  already  distinguished 
himself  in  Sweden,  France  and  Germany.  The  Waldenses 
themselves  possessed  leaders  of  considerable  skill.  Ber- 
tino  and  Podio,  of  Bobbi ;  Albarca,  of  Vilhir  ;  Liuirens, 
of  San  Martin  ;  Avith  Revel  and  Gortabella,  the  lieutenants 
of  Gianavel  and  Giaheri.  The  moderator  Lcgcr  himself 
had  arrived  in  the  valleys  on  the  11th  Jul}^  1(555,  and  at 
once  proceeded,  accompanied  by  colonel  Andrion,  to  the 
valley  of  Angrogna,  Avhere  the  Waldenses  were  encamped 
on  La  Vachera.  In  the  night,  scouts  were  despatched 
towards  La  Torre  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy.  On  reaching 
(224) 


NEGOTIATIONS   AND    CONCESSIONS.  2"25 

the  hamlet  of  San  Lorenzo,  those  messengers  discerned  a 
detachment  of  Piedmontese  troops,  who  were  awaiting  the 
daylight  in  order  to  advance  and  attack  the  Waldenses. 
The  two  scouts  mingling  with  these  soldiers,  conversed 
with  them  in  their  own  language,  and  so  learned  the  de- 
signs of  their  general,  M.  de  Marolles.     At  dayhreak  the 
Waldenses  quitted  the  enemy's  camp,  and  made  their  way 
to  their  own  barricades,  which  they  reached  just  in  time 
to  give  the  alarm.     The  Piedmontese  troops,  arranged  in 
four  battallions,  were  occupied  from  five  in  the  morning 
till  three  in  the  afternoon,  in  an  ineffectual  attack  upon  the 
Waldensian  barricades,    though  these  were  defended  by 
only  a  few  hundred  men.     At  length,  the  lower  barricade 
being  taken,  the  Waldenses  retreated  to  a  barricade  called 
the  Donjon,  higher  up,  followed  by  the  Piedmontese,  who, 
deeming   themselves   triumphant,    insolently   called   out: 
"Advance,  wreck   of   Gianavel !"     But   down    the  steep 
descent  the  Waldenses  rolled  stones,  or  rather  rocks,  which 
leaping  with  thundering  roar  upon  the  enemy's  ranks  dis- 
persed, broke,  and  crushed  them,  as  though  it  had  been  a 
massive  discharge  of  grape-shot. 

"Advance,  wreck  of  San  Segonza!"  cried  the  Walden- 
ses in  their  turn,  as,  sword  in  hand,  they  poured  down 
their  serried  ranks  upon  the  amazed  and  discomtitted  foe. 
The  result  was  almost  instantaneous ;  after  a  brief  show 
of  resistance,  the  Piedmontese  troops,  their  ranks  broken 
by  the  avalanche  of  rocks,  and  driven  in  by  the  avalanche 
of  pikes  and  swords,  turned  and  fled,  leaving  two  hundred 
dead  behind  them,  and  carrying  off  with  them  twice  that 
number  of  wounded. 

Some  days  afterwards,  the  garrison  of  La  Torre  made 
another  incursion  into  the  valley  of  Angrogna,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  burning  the  remnant  of  the  crops,  but  they  were 


226  THE    WALDENSES. 

repulsed  by  captain  Bellino,  ■who  pursued  them  to  the  very 
gates  of  the  town. 

The  AValdenses  themselves,  under  the  command  of  Des- 
combies,  and  aided  by  a  small  body  of  cavalry  under 
another  French  refugee,  Charles  Feautrier,  made,  in  their 
turn,  an  attempt  upon  La  Torre ;  their  numbers  had  now 
reached  eighteen  hundred  armed  men,  and  Gianavel, 
restored  to  health,  was  once  more  with  them.  The  com- 
bined forces  marched  during  the  night  to  Monte  Chiabasso, 
distant  scarcely  a  mile  from  La  Torre,  and  the  Waldenses 
were  eager  instantly  to  assault  the  town  ;  but  the  fatal 
prudence  of  Descombies  interposed.  This  officer  had  never 
yet  seen  the  Waldenses  fight,  and  was  ignorant  of  the 
locality,  so  that  when  some  of  his  French  followers,  whom 
he  had  sent  to  reconnoitre  the  citadel  of  La  Torre,  reported 
that  it  was  impregnable,  he  sounded  a  retreat,  being  desir- 
ous, as  he  said,  of  not  compromising,  in  his  first  engage- 
ment, the  men  who  had  been  entrusted  to  his  command. 
The  march  of  the  Waldenses,  however,  had,  meantime, 
become  known,  and  M.  de  Marolles  at  once  hastened  from 
Luzerna,  towards  La  Torre,  at  the  head  of  his  regiment, 
to  attack  them.  The  van  of  the  Waldensian  army,  fol- 
lowing Descombies,  had  already  withdrawn  towards  La 
Vachera,  but  two  of  the  Waldensian  leaders,  Bellino  and 
Peronello,  resolved  to  attack  the  town,  and  precipitated 
themselves  towards  it,  with  the  other  moiety  of  the  Wal- 
densian forces,  Gianavel  himself,  as  yet  not  strong  enough 
to  take  part  in  the  actual  engagement,  remaining  on  an 
eminence  which  commanded  a  view  of  the  town,  in  order 
to  sound  a  retreat,  should  circumstances  so  dictate.  The 
Waldenses,  well  acquainted  with  the  locality,  made  their 
way  into  the  town,  took  and  burned  the  Capuchin  monas- 
tery, occupied  all  the  leading  streets,  and  then  advanced 


NEGOTIATIOXS    AND   CONCESSIONS.  007 

to  assault  the  citadel.  The  garrison,  after  a  brief  resist- 
ance, were  about  to  surrender,  when  the  regiment  of  M.  de 
Marolles  appeared  in  sight,  and  Gianavel  at  once  sounded 
a  retreat,  -which  the  Waldenses  effected,  avoiding  the  supe- 
rior force  of  the  enemy  by  their  closer  knowledge  of  the 
locality. 

Meanwhile  the  remonstrances  of  protcstant  Europe  were 
assuming  a  still  more  and  more  emphatic  form.  Crom- 
well, especially,  displayed  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses 
extraordinary  zeal  and  activity.  In  reply  to  his  letter  of 
the  25th  of  May,  already  given,  Louis  XIV.  had  said : 
"  To  show  you  that  I  entirely  disapprove  of  the  employ- 
ment of  my  troops  for  such  a  purpose  as  attacking  the 
Waldenses,  I  have  already  sent  several  messages  to  the 
duke  of  Savoy,  to  prevent  the  further  pursuit  of  that  peo- 
ple, and  I  have  ordered  the  duke  de  Lesdiguieres,  governor 
of  Dauphiny,  to  receive,  foster,  and  protect  them.  I  will 
assuredly  continue  my  good  offices  with  the  duke  in  their 
behalf."  The  French  ambassador  in  Piedmont  also 
received  orders  to  act  in  the  sense  of  this  letter;  similar 
instructions  were  given  by  Holland  and  Switzerland  to 
their  representatives  at  Turin ;  and  the  Protector  of  Eng- 
land sent  Sir  Samuel  Morland  upon  a  special  mission  to 
the  court  of  Turin,  to  present  letters  of  strong  remon- 
strance to  the  duke  of  Savoy  himself,  and  to  demand  an 
audience,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  public  declaration 
of  the  indignation  Avhich  the  proceedings  against  the  Wal- 
denses had  excited  in  England.  Cromwell  could  not  have 
chosen  a  man  better  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of 
such  an  embassy  than  Morland.  Young,  ardent,  full  of 
courage,  and  conscious  of  the  dignity  of  the  character 
which  he  had  to  sustain,  as  the  representative  of  the  com- 
monwealth of  England,  he  procured  an  audience  at  Rivoli, 


228  THE    WALDENSES. 

■where  the  royal  family  of  Savoy  were  then  residing,  and 
in  the  presence  of  Madame  Royale,  and  the  whole  court, 
he  addressed  the  duke  in  a  Latin  oration,  which,  after  a 
few  customary  expressions  of  courtesy,  contained  truths 
that  none  but  a  stern  republican  could  think  of  sounding 
in  royal  ears.  It  was  the  pride,  and  perhaps  the  policy, 
of  Cromwell,  to  transact  all  his  negotiations  with  foreign 
powers  in  the  language  of  ancient  Rome.  He  would  not 
condescend  to  hold  intercourse  in  any  but  his  own,  or  a 
learned  tongue,  and  he  considered  that  by  this  means 
neither  himself  nor  his  ministers  could  be  made  the  dupes 
of  equivocal  and  ambiguous  phrases.  Milton  was  the  sec- 
retary whom  he  employed  to  put  his  own  expressions  into 
a  correct  and  classical  form. 

•  The  oration,  as  given  by  Morland  himself,  in  his  quaint 
translation,  ran  thus  : — 

"  May  it  please  your  Most  Serene  and  Royal  Highness, 
"  I  am  sent  by  the  most  serene  prince  Oliver,  lord 
Protector  of  the  commonwealth  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland,  unto  your  royal  highness,  whom  he  heartily 
saluteth,  and  with  a  very  high  and  singular  affection  of 
mind  towards  the  person  of  your  serene  highness,  wishing 
you  life,  a  long  reign,  and  prosperous  success  in  all  your 
affairs,  together  with  the  love  and  affections  of  your  peo- 
ple. And  this  respect  doubtless  is  due  to  your  merit, 
whether  a  man  consider  the  most  noble  inclination,  and 
royal  extraction  of  your  highness,  together  with  the  high 
expectation  which  the  world  hath  from  so  many  eminent 
virtues,  or  whether,  from  perusing  the  monuments  of  time 
past,  he  call  to  mind  the  ancient  alliance  of  our  kings  with 
the  royal  family  of  Savoy.  As  for  myself,  though  I  be  a 
young  man,  I  confess,  and  have  not  much  experience  in 


NEGOTIATIONS   AND    CONCESSIONS.  009 

affairs,  yet  it  pleased  my  most  serene  and  most  gracious 
master,  to  send  me,  being  one  that  is  much  devoted  to 
your  royal  highness,  and  a  great  lover  of  all  the  people  of 
Italy,  to  negotiate  matters  of  great  importance,  for  so 
those  affairs  are  to  be  called,  wherein  the  safety  of  many 
poor  distressed  people  and  all  their  hope  is  comprehended, 
which  indeed  consisteth  wholly  in  this,  if  so  be  that  by  all 
their  loyalty,  obedience,  and  most  humble  petitions,  they 
may  be  able  to  mollify  and  appease  the  mind  of  your  royal 
highness,  which  hath  been  provoked  against  them. 

"  In  behalf  of  these  poor  people  whose  cause  truly  even 
commiseration  itself  may  seem  to  make  the  more  excusable, 
the  most  serene  Protector  of  England  is  also  become  an 
intercessor ;  and  he  most  earnestly  entreateth  and  be- 
seecheth  your  royal  highness,  that  you  would  be  pleased 
to  extend  your  mercy  to  these  your  very  poor  subjects, 
and  most  disconsolate  outcasts  ;  I  mean  those,  who  inhab- 
iting beneath  the  Alps,  and  certain  valleys  under  your 
dominion,  are  professors  of  the  protestant  religion.  For 
he  hath  been  informed,  (which  no  man  can  say  was  done 
by  the  will  of  your  royal  highness,)  that  part  of  these  most 
miserable  people  have  been  cruelly  massacred  by  your 
forces,  part  driven  out  by  violence,  and  forced  to  leave 
their  native  habitations ;  and  so,  without  house  or  shelter, 
poor  and  destitute  of  all  relief,  do  wander  up  and  down, 
with  their  wives  and  children,  in  craggy  and  uninhabited 
places,  and  mountains  covered  with  snow.  Oh  !  the  fired 
houses  which  are  yet  smoking,  the  torn  limbs,  and  ground 
defiled  with  blood  !* 

^  ^  IfJ  5}*  SjC 

*  Fumantia  passim  tecta,  et  laceri  artus,  et  cruenta  humus.    Vir- 
gine?  post  stupra,  differto  lapillis  ac  ruderibus  utero,  misere  efflarunt 
aniraas. 
20 


230  THE    WALDENSES. 

"  Some  men,  an  hundred  years  old,  decrepit  with  age  and 
bed-rid,  have  been  burnt  in  their  beds.  Some  infants  have 
been  dashed  against  the  rocks,  others  have  had  their  throats 
cut,  whose  brains  have,  with  more  than  Cyclopean  cruelty, 
been  boiled  and  eaten  by  the  murderers  !  What  need  I 
mention  more,  although  I  could  reckon  up  very  many  cru- 
elties of  the  same  kind,  if  I  were  not  astonished  at  the  very 
thought  of  them.  If  all  the  tyrants  of  all  times  and  ages 
were  alive  again,  (which  I  would  speak  without  any  offence 
to  your  highness,  seeing  we  believe  none  of  these  things 
were  done  through  any  default  of  yours,)  certainly  they 
would  be  ashamed  when  they  should  find  that  they  had 
contrived  nothing,  in  comparison  with  these  things,  that 
might  be  reputed  barbarous  and  inhuman. 

"  In  the  meantime,  the  angels  are  surprised  with  horror ; 
men  are  amazed  ;  heaven  itself  seems  to  be  astonished  with 
the  cries  of  dying  men  ;  and  the  yctj  earth  to  blush,  being 
discoloured  with  the  gore  blood  of  so  many  innocent  per- 
sons !  Do  not  thou,  0  thou  most  high  God,  do  not  thou 
take  that  revenge,  which  is  due  to  so  great  wickedness, 
and  horrible  villanies !  Let  thy  blood,  0  Christ,  wash  away 
this  blood  !* 

"  But  it  is  not  my  business  to  make  a  narrative  of  these 
things,  in  order  as  they  were  done,  or  to  insist  any 
longer  upon  them ;  and  that  which  my  most  serene  master 
desireth  of  your  royal  highness,  you  will  better  understand 
by  his  own  letters,  which  letters  I  am  commanded,  with 
all  observance  and  due  respect,  to  deliver  unto  your 
royal  highness ;  to  which,  if  your  royal  highness  shall,  as 
we  very  much  hope,  be  pleased  to  vouchsafe  a  speedy 
answer,  you  will  thereby  very  highly  oblige  my  lord  Pro- 

*  It  was  in  reference  to  those  same  atrocities  that  Milton  wrote  his 
memorable  sonnet,  which  we  have  prefixed  to  the  present  volume. 


NEGOTIATIONS    AND    CONCESSIONS.  231 

tector,  who  hath  laid  this  thing  deeply  to  heart,  and  the 
whole  commonwealth  of  England.  You  will  also,  by  an 
act  of  compassion,  most  worthy  of  your  royal  highness,  re- 
store life,  safety,  and  spirit,  country  and  estates,  to  many 
thousands  of  afflicted  people,  who  depend  upon  your  plea- 
sure ;  and  me  you  will  dismiss  back  to  my  native  country 
with  exceeding  joy,  and  with  a  report  of  your  eminent 
virtues,  the  most  happy  proclaimer  of  your  princely 
clemency,  and  one  for  ever  most  obliged  to  your  royal 
highness." 

This  oration,  stamped  with  the  energetic  unction  of  the 
puritan,  pronounced  with  the  manly  confidence  of  youth 
and  courage,  produced  a  deep  sensation.  Charles  Eman- 
uel made  no  reply ;  but  the  duchess,  instructed  beforehand 
by  her  Jesuit  advisers,  said:  "We  are  deeply  sensible  of 
the  interest  your  master  takes  in  our  subjects,  but  sur- 
prised that  he  should  listen  to  such  inaccurate  statements 
as  those  upon  which  he  has  evidently  acted.  "Were  he 
better  informed  of  the  facts,  he  would  know  that  what 
have  been  represented  to  him  as  barbarities,  were  nothing 
more  than  mild  and  paternal  chastisement,  inflicted  on  re- 
bellious subjects,  whose  revolt  no  sovereign  could  over- 
look. Nevertheless,  in  manifestation  of  our  desire  to  be 
agreeable  to  his  serene  highness,  we  will  not  only  pardon 
them,  but  restore  them  to  our  favour,  and  to  the  privileges 
which  their  ill-conduct  has  forfeited." 

Morland  thrown  oif  his  guard  by  this  promise,  quitted 
Turin,  on  the  19th  of  July,  promising  to  return  and  take 
part,  on  behalf  of  the  Waldenses,  in  the  negotiations 
which  were  to  take  place  respecting  them.  But  care  was 
taken  to  precipitate  those  negotiations  in  his  absence,  in 
order  that  less  might  be  granted ;  and  accordingly,  on  the 
18th  of  August,  1655,  in  presence  of  the  Swiss  envoys, 


232  THE     WALDENSES. 

"who  had  arrived  after  the  departure  of  Morland,  and  under 
the  influence  of  the  French  ambassador,  Servient,  was 
concluded,  at  Pignerol,  the  treaty  of  peace,  designated  the 
Patent  of  Grace,  which  left  the  poor  Waldenses  more  com- 
pletely than  ever  at  the  mercy  of  their  oppressors,  under 
the  mask  of  establishing  their  security.  This  shameful 
treaty,  by  Avhich  the  protestant  states  were  duped,  and  the 
Waldensian  churches  left  in  the  unprotected  situation  as 
ever,  was  very  appositely  compared  to  a  leper,  arrayed  in 
rich  clothing  and  gay  attire ;  and  to  Ezekiel's  roll, 
'•'  written  within  and  without,  in  the  mouth  as  honey  for 
sweetness,  but  within  there  were  written  lamentations,  and 
mourning  and  woe." 

The  Swiss  plenipoteniaries  had  endeavoured  to  secure 
more  solid  guarantees  for  the  security  of  the  Waldenses, 
such,  for  example,  as  the  demolition  of  the  fortress  of  La 
Torre ;  but  these  were  all  either  refused  or  eluded. 


(KfjiiftH  Cinriiti]-fir0t. 


INFRACTIONS   OF   THE   TREATY   OF   PIGNEROL. 

The  baneful  effects  of  this  Jesuitical  affair  were  soon 
felt  by  the  deluded  Waldenses,  who,  in  their  pathetic  ap- 
peals for  redress,  used  some  of  the  most  affecting  expressions 
in  Scripture  to  signify  their  distress.  "  We  hare  no  grapes 
in  the  vineyard,"  they  said  ;  "no  cattle  in  the  fields;  no 
herds  in  the  stalls ;  no  corn  in  the  garners ;  no  meal  in 
the  barrel ;  no  oil  in  the  cruse.  The  tongue  of  the  suck- 
ling cleaves  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth,  and  the  young 
children  ask  bread,  and  no  man  gives  it  to  them."  In 
the  translation  of  a  letter,  written  by  the  ministers  and 
elders  of  the  valleys  to  their  brethren  of  Geneva,  dated 
Pinaches,  14th  February,  1657,  and  preserved,  among 
many  other  Waldensian  records,  in  the  State  Paper  Office 
at  London,  there  occur  these  touching  passages : — 

*'  Our  people  are  in  extreme  necessities,  the  greatest 
part  of  our  families  being  destitute  of  houses,  moveables, 
cattel,  or  any  thing  else  whereby  to  subsist. — If  you  did 
but  know,  sirs,  the  greatness  of  our  miseries,  you  would 
certainly  have  compassion  on  us,  and  pitie  our  sad  condi- 
tion. God  is  now  in  good  earnest  chastizing  us  for  our 
sins  and  iniquities,  to  which  wee  most  willingUie  submitt, 
kissing  the  rod,  and  confessing  that  hee  is  still  just  and 

righteous." 

20*  (233) 


234  THE    WALDENSES. 

To  the  French  king,  whom  they  justly  considered  the 
main  author  of  their  grievances,  since  it  was  he  who  had 
patched  up  the  perfidious  treaty,  they  addressed  an  humble 
petition,  imploring  his  interposition,  and  urging  to  see 
justice  done  to  them.  But  their  only  answers  were  some 
angry  letters,  written  by  the  French  ambassador  (Ser- 
vient), who  had  himself  assisted  in  framing  the  treaty ; 
and  who  had  sharply  rebuked  them  for  their  presumption 
and  discontent.  One  of  these  letters  even  reproached 
them  for  accepting  supplies  and  moneys  from  foreigners. 
These  moneys  were  the  contributions  received  from  Eng- 
land. "Alas  !  said  the  poor  sufferers,  "Avasit  ever  known 
before  that  miserable  men,  after  losing  the  whole  of  their 
estates,  after  having  had  their  houses  burnt,  and  their 
goods  plundered,  should  have  it  objected  to  them,  that 
they  received  the  charity  of  those  who  had  pity  on  them, 
to  prevent  their  perishing  of  hunger  !" 

One  of  the  Swiss  ambassadors  was  so  dissatisfied  with 
the  terms  of  the  treaty,  in  the  first  instance,  even  before 
it  was  concluded,  that  he  strongly  remonstrated  with  his 
colleagues,  and  urged  them  not  to  consent  to  it;  and 
afterwards  subscribed  to  a  protest,  the  original  attestation 
of  which  is  among  the  manuscripts  in  the  university  library 
at  Cambridge. 

Cromwell  was  furious  upon  finding  how  completely  the 
protestant  states  had  been  overreached,  in  their  negotia- 
tion with  the  duke  of  Savoy,  and  in  the  faith  they  placed 
in  the  mediation  of  the  king  of  France.  He  wrote  to 
Louis  XIV.  in  a  high  tone  of  indignant  remonstrance  : 

"  Most  Serene  and  Potent  King, 
"  Your  majesty  may  remember,  that  at  the  time  when 
the  negotiation  began  between  us,  for  the  renewal  of  the 


INFRACTIONS   OF   THE   TREATY  285 

allumcc,  Avliich  has  proved  so  beneficial  to  the  twj  nations, 
and  so  detrimental  to  our  common  enemies,  the  cruel  mas- 
sacre of  the  Waldenses  took  place ;  and  that  we  earnestly 
and  pathetically  commended  the  cause  of  that  unhappy 
people,  Avho  appeared  to  be  oppressed  and  abandoned  by 
all,  to  your  pity  and  protection.  We  cannot  believe  that 
your  majesty  neglected  to  make  use  of  your  authority  and 
influence  with  the  duke  of  Savoy,  when  it  was  so  incum- 
bent upon  you  to  exert  yourself  in  the  pious  and  humane 
character  of  a  mediator  ;  as  for  ourselves,  and  many  other 
princes  and  states,  we  interposed  all  that  we  could,  by  em- 
bassies, letters,  and  entreaties.  The  result  was,  that  after 
a  most  barbarous  slaughter  of  persons  of  both  sexes,  and 
of  all  ages,  a  treaty  of  peace  Avas  concluded,  or  rather 
secret  acts  of  hostility  were  committed,  the  more  securely 
under  the  name  of  a  pacification.  The  conditions  of  the 
treaty  were  determined  in  your  town  of  Pigiierol ;  hard 
conditions  enough,  but  such  as  these  poor  people  would 
gladly  have  agreed  to,  after  the  horrible  outrages  to  which 
they  had  been  exposed,  provided  that  they  had  been  faith- 
fully observed.  But  they  were  not  observed  :  the  meaning 
of  the  treaty  is  evaded  and  violated,  by  putting  a  false 
interpretation  upon  some  of  the  articles,  and  by  straining 
others  :  many  of  the  complainants  have  been  deprived  of 
their  patrimonies  ;  and  many  have  been  forbidden  the  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion  :  new  payments  have  been  exacted  ; 
and  a  new  fort  has  been  built,  to  keep  them  in  check ; 
from  whence  a  disorderly  soldiery  make  frequent  sallies, 
and  plunder  or  murder  all  they  meet.  In  addition  to  these 
things,  fresh  levies  of  troops  are  clandestinely  preparing 
to  march  against  them ;  and  those  among  them  who  pro- 
fess the  Roman  cathohc  religion  have  been  advised  to  retire 
in  time ;   so  that  everything  threatens  the  speedy  destruc- 


236  THE   WALDENSES. 

tion  of  such  as  escaped  the  former  massacre.  I  do  there- 
fore beseech  and  conjure  your  majesty  not  to  suffer  such 
enormities,  and  not  to  permit  (I  will  not  say  any  prince, 
for  surely  such  barbarity  never  could  enter  into  the  heart 
of  a  prince,  much  less  one  of  the  duke's  tender  age,  or  into 
the  mind  of  his  mother)  those  accursed  murderers  to  indulge 
in  such  savage  ferocity,  who,  while  they  profess  to  be  the 
servants  and  followers  of  Christ,  who  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners,  do  blaspheme  his  name,  and  transgress  his 
mild  precepts,  by  the  slaughter  of  innocent  men.  Oh  that 
your  majesty,  who  has  the  power,  and  who  ought  to  be 
inclined  to  use  it,  may  deliver  so  many  supplicants  from 
the  hands  of  murderers,  who  are  already  drunk  with  blood, 
and  thirst  for  it  again,  and  who  take  pleasure  in  throwing 
the  odium  of  their  cruelty  upon  princes.  I  implore  your 
majesty  not  to  suffer  the  borders  of  your  kingdom  to  be 
polluted  by  such  monstrous  wickedness.  Remember  that 
this  very  race  of  people  threw  themselves  upon  the  protec- 
tion of  your  grandfather,  king  Henry  IV.,  who  was  most 
friendly  disposed  towards  the  protestants,  when  the  duke 
of  Lesdiguieres  passed  victoriously  through  their  country, 
as  affording  the  most  commodious  passage  into  Italy,  at 
the  time  he  pursued  the  duke  of  Savoy  in  his  retreat  across 
the  Alps.  The  act  or  instrument  of  that  submission  is  still 
extant  among  the  public  records  of  your  kingdom,  in  which 
it  is  provided  that  the  Waldenses  shall  not  be  transferred 
to  any  other  government,  but  upon  the  same  condition  that 
they  were  received  under  the  protection  of  your  invincible 
grandfather.  As  supplicants  of  his  grandson,  they  now 
implore  the  fulfillment  of  this  compact :  they  would  rather 
be  your  subjects  than  the  duke's,  and  hope  that  it  may  be 
effected  by  some  mode  of  exchange,  if  possible,  and  if  not, 
that  at  least  they  may  be  taken  under  your  patronage  and 


INFRACTIONS    OF   THE    TREATY.  037 

protection.  There  are  other  reasons  of  state  which  might 
induce  your  majesty  not  to  neglect  the  Waldenses ;  but  I 
would  not  wish  so  great  a  king  to  be  influenced  by  any- 
thing but  his  regard  to  the  faith  pledged  by  his  ancestors, 
and  by  his  own  piety,  and  royal  benevolence  and  magna- 
nimity. Thus  the  honour  and  praise  of  so  glorious  an  act 
will  be  entirely  your  own,  and  your  majesty  will  propitiate 
the  grace  and  favour  of  the  Father  of  Mercies,  and  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  name  and  doctrine  you  will  vin- 
dicate against  such  nefarious  and  inhuman  proceedings. 

"  Given  at  our  court  at  Westminster,  this  26th  of  May, 
1658." 

Cromwell  also  despatched  a  letter  to  the  Swiss  cantons, 
plainly  signifying  his  own  readiness  to  go  all  lengths,  in 
conjunction  with  them,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Waldenses, 
and  warning  them  that  they  were  bound,  by  every  consid- 
eration of  interest,  as  well  as  feeling,  to  see  that  the  most 
ancient  stock  of  the  reformed  religion  be  not  destroyed, 
in  the  remains  of  its  old  faithful  professors,  lest  the  next 
blow  should  fall  upon  themselves. 

It  had  been,  during  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty,  agreed, 
on  the  part  of  Savoy,  that,  though  the  duke  could  not  "so 
far  humiliate  himself  before  his  subjects"  as  to  have  a 
clause  inserted  formally  decreeing  the  demolition  of  the 
fortress  of  La  Torre,  an  object  very  material  with  the 
Waldenses,  by  reason  of  past  suff"erings  and  future  fears, 
yet  that,  so  soon  as  the  treaty  should  be  signed,  his  high- 
ness, "requiring  no  other  fortress  than  the  hearts  of  his 
grateful  people,"  would  have  the  castle  of  La  Torre  rased. 
The  treaty  was  signed ;  and  then,  in  the  space  between 
the  text  and  the  signatures,  the  ducal  counsellors  interpo- 
lated this  paragraph :  "  His  royal  highness  grants  to  the 
Waldenses  the  right  of  addressing  to   him  supplications 


238  THE    WALDENSES. 

that  the  citadel  of  La  Torre  may  be  demolished  absolutely, 
or  removed  elsewhere."  This  implication  of  the  right  to 
reject  such  supplications,  rendered  that  an  open  question 
which  had  been  distinctly  settled  and  conceded  :  this  was 
pointed  out  by  the  Waldenses ;  the  answer  was,  that  the 
interpolation  had  been  made  from  some  negligence  of  the 
copyist.  The  Waldenses,  omitting  to  insist  upon  the  point, 
addressed  the  supplication  which  the  forged  clause  deri- 
sively suggested.  The  duke  replied,  with  an  aifectation 
of  extreme  amenity,  that  he  was  happy  to  grant  them  a 
fresh  proof  of  his  benevolence,  and  that  he  would,  accord- 
ingly, destroy  all  that  portion  of  the  fortress  of  La  Torre 
"  which  was  not  necessary  for  the  defence  of  his  states." 

He  did,  in  fact,  pull  down  a  small  detached  tower,  in 
the  plain  of  La  Torre ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  added 
largely  both  to  the  size  and  to  the  strength  of  the  citadel, 
and,  upon  the  completion  of  these  new  works,  increased  the 
number  of  the  garrison. 

The  French  authorities,  hov/ever,  became  uneasy  at  this 
augmented  strength  of  a  fortress  so  near  their  own  fron- 
tiers ;  and  both  Lesdiguieres,  the  governor  of  Dauphin}', 
and  La  Bretonniere  commandant  of  Pignerol,  loudly 
declaring  their  dissatisfaction,  Louis  XIV.  himself  volun- 
teered to  guarantee  the  full  execution  of  the  treaty  which 
had  been  concluded  under  his  auspices.  A  synod  was  held 
at  La  Torre  to  deliberate  upon  this  offer,  and  the  Wal- 
denses thence  forwarded  to  the  monarch  a  memorial,  in 
which  they  set  forth  the  various  respects  in  which  the 
patents  of  grace  had  been  altogther  violated  :  the  Walden- 
sian  prisoners,  they  said,  were  not  restored  to  them  :  their 
children  were  still  forced  or  stolen  from  them ;  and  the 
soldiers  of  the  Piedmontese  garrison  perpetrated,  with 
utter  impunity,  the  gravest  outrages   upon  their  persons 


I  X  F  R  A  C  T  1  0  X  S   OF   THE    TREATY.  039 

and  properties.  Pillage  and  assassination,  violence  and 
violation,  continued,  then,  to  be  the  catholic  ivork  of  faith  ; 
the  propaganda  proceeded  ^vith  its  "holy  mission." 

One  labour  of  this  mission  was  to  sow  division  among 
the  Waldenses,  by  the  medium  of  Jesuits,  who,  under  the 
guise  of  protestant  refugees  from  Languedoc,  introduced 
themselves  into  the  valleys,  and  applied  all  their  talents 
to  the  perfidious  task.  Among  other  vile  insinuations, 
they  spread  rumours  of  malversation  against  those  pastors 
who  had  been  entrusted  with  the  distribution  of  the  collec- 
tions made  abroad  for  the  use  of  the  Waldenses ;  and  mis- 
ery being  ever  mistrustful,  these  calumnies  served,  for  a 
while,  the  treacherous  purpose  of  those  who  propagated 
them.  New  trials,  however,  soon  united  all  afi^ainst  a 
common  danger. 

The  auditor  Gastaldo,  who,  still  a  member  of  the  pro- 
paganda, had  become  governor  of  the  valleys,  issued,  loth 
June,  1657,  a  decree  prohibiting  the  Waldenses  from  pub- 
licly celebrating  their  worship  at  San  Giovanni,  under  a 
a  penalty  of  one  thousand  crowns  of  gold  against  the  pre- 
siding minister,  and  of  two  hundred  against  each  person 
present.  New  papist  missions  were  established  in  the  val- 
leys ;  the  Jesuits  got  a  footing  in  every  direction  ;  exemp- 
tions from  taxes,  and  other  privileges  were  granted  to  all 
catholic  converts,  while  the  protestants  were  treated  with 
systematic  rigour ;  the  Dauphinese  pastors  who  had  come 
to  minister  sympathy  and  consolation,  religious  and  fra- 
ternal, to  the  Waldenses  of  the  valleys,  were  expelled,  on 
the  pretext  of  their  being  foreigners. 

The  persecuted  people  complained  of  the  oppressions  to 
which  they  were  subjected,  in  a  memorial  to  the  Swiss 
ambassadors  who  had  negotiated  the  treaty  of  Pignerol, 
and  the  latter,  in  their  turn,  addressed  a  memorial  to  the 


240  TEE  WALDENSES. 

Piedmontese  government,  complaining  of  the  infraction 
of  the  treaty  to  which  they  were  parties.  The  president, 
Truchsi,  in  his  reply,  threw  the  whole  blame  upon  the 
Waldenses,  who,  he  absurdly  said,  were  the  real  infractors 
of  the  treaty.  The  synod  of  the  Waldensian  valleys  then 
drew  up  a  detailed  statement  of  their  grievances,  which 
was  printed  at  Haarlem,  in  1662,  and  again  in  1663; 
but  the  Piedmontese  authorities,  so  far  from  remedying 
the  evil,  seemed  more  and  more  bent  upon  aggravating  it. 

The  treaty  of  Pignerol  had  exempted  the  protestants 
from  the  payment  of  the  arrears  of  the  public  charges  for 
the  deplorable  year  1655,  on  the  distinct  ground  of  their 
total  inability,  by  reason  of  their  losses  and  privations,  to 
pay  them.  Despite  the  deep  misery  from  which  foreign 
subscriptions  had  but  partially  relieved  them,  the  Walden- 
ses were  now  imperatively  required  to  discharge  these  very 
arrears ;  and,  to  render  the  exaction  more  oppressive  and 
more  insulting,  the  catholics  of  the  valley  of  San  Martin 
were,  at  the  same  time,  exempted  from  the  payment  of 
these  charges,  "as  a  compensation  for  the  damage  done  to 
them  by  the  protestants." 

It  was,  however,  less  these  money-wounds,  than  the 
wounds  which  affect  the  spiritual  life,  that  aroused  the 
Waldenses  to  renewed  exertions.  The  prohibition  to  per- 
form their  worship  in  the  commune  of  San  Giovanni,  was 
not  only  a  grievous  evil  in  itself,  but  a  menace  to  all  their 
churches.  The  edict  of  Cavour  had  guaranteed  the  free 
exercise  of  their  worship  in  all  places  where  it  was  then 
already  established,  and  San  Giovanni  was  one  of  these 
places.  The  treaty  of  Pignerol  had  in  no  way  restricted 
this  guarantee.  If  one  of  their  parishes  were  effectually 
assailed,  the  rest  would  soon  succumb  beneath  similar 
strokes.     Public  preaching  had,  indeed,  been  forbidden  to 


INFRACTIONS   OF   THE   TREATY.  241 

the  Waldenses  at  San  Giovanni,  so  long  back  as  1G20,  but 
tiie  other  functions  of  the  protestant  ministry  had  been 
maintained. 

A  general  synod  was  assembled  in  March,  1658,  to  dis- 
cuss this  grave  question.  It  was  resolved  that  a  mejnorial 
should  be  addressed  to  the  sovereign  in  person,  and  that, 
meanwhile,  the  pastor  of  San  Giovanni  (Loger,  the  histo- 
rian) should  continue  to  exercise  his  ministry  there,  until 
the  question,  so  submitted  to  the  duke  himself,  had  been 
definitely  decided. 

This  determination  on  the  part  of  the  synod  created 
great  indignation  at  the  court  of  Turin.  "  The  first  duty 
of  subjects,"  it  was  insisted,  "is  to  obey  their  prince.  In 
resisting  his  orders,  the  Waldenses  have  rendered  them- 
selves guilty  of  revolt,  and  must  be  treated  as  rebels,  as 
traitors ;''  and  the  protestant  powers  whom  the  synod  had 
entreated  to  intercede  in  the  matter,  were  met  with  the 
haughty  declaration,  that  the  persons  in  whom  they  inter- 
ested themselves,  without  understanding  the  real  state  of 
the  question,  were  rebels,  who  must  be  treated  accord- 
ingly- 

The  object  of  especial  irritation,  on  the  part  of  the 
propaganda  and  the  popish  clergy,  was  Leger,  that  coura- 
geous pastor,  who  remained  at  his  post,  despite  menaces 
and  peril. 

Already  twice  condemned  to  death,  he  now  braved  it  for 
the  third,  and,  as  his  enemies  hoped,  last  time.  He  was 
cited  to  appear  at  Turin  ;  the  citation  set  forth  no  cause, 
and  Leger  did  not  obey  it.  A  second  citation  was  equally 
ineffectual.  The  count  of  Saluzzo,  who  took  a  deep  inter- 
est in  the  Waldenses — an  interest  which  appears  hered- 
itary in  the  family — then  went  to  the  minister,  and,  in  a 
friendly  manner,  remonstrated  with  him  upon  the  practical 
21  Q 


242  THE    WALDENSES. 

inexpediency  of  his  resistance  to  authority  ;  but  the  pastor 
persisted,  and,  on  the  3d  of  May,  1658,  he  received 
another  citation,  ordering  him  to  appear,  under  pain  of 
banishment,  and  of  the  confiscation  of  his  property.  The 
pastor  hereupon  assembled  his  colleagues  at  Pinache,  then 
a  French  town,  in  order  to  consult  with  them  what  course 
he  should  take ;  and  the  result  of  their  deliberations  was, 
that  a  solicitation  should  be  addressed  to  the  authorities 
to  maintain  Leger  in  his  church.  This  proceeding,  which 
should  have  been  resorted  to  in  the  first  instance,  came  too 
late.  The  request  was  rejected  by  the  court ;  and  after 
three  years  of  sterile  negotiations,  Leger  was,  on  the  12th 
January,  1661,  condemned,  by  the  senate  of  Turin,  to 
death,  and  his  co-accused,  the  deacons  and  elders  of  the 
church  of  San  Giovanni,  to  ten  years  labour  in  the  galleys. 
Leger,  thus  compelled  to  withdraw  from  his  native  land, 
retired  first  to  England,  then  to  Geneva,  and  lastly  to 
Leyden,  where  he  published  his  Creneral  History  of  the 
Waldensian  Churches,  and  where  he  died,  about  1684. 


(!bl;a|itri'  iKuirntq-iirronii 


THE    WAR    OF    THE    EXILES 

San  Giovanni's  pastor,  Leger,  and  Gianavel,  had  been 
condemned  to  death,  twenty  other  persons  to  the  galleys, 
and  many  more  were  still  under  prosecution,  for  having 
resisted  the  orders  of  their  sovereign  in  exercising  the  pro- 
testant  worship  at  that  town.  The  condemned  men  having 
fled,  a  price  was  put  upon  their  heads,  and  meanwhile 
troops  were  sent  to  demolish  their  houses  and  devastate 
their  little  farms.  The  command  of  the  fortress  of  La 
Torre  was  confided  to  the  count  di  Bagnolo,  one  of  the 
massacrers  of  1G55,  the  zealous  servant  of  the  propaganda. 
His  soldiers,  with  corresponding  zeal,  committed  all  sorts 
of  excesses — pillage,  conflagration,  murder,  violation. 
Many  of  the  poor  villagers  fleeing  from  their  cottages  to 
escape  these  outrages,  di  Bagnolo  issued  a  proclamation 
forbidding  any  person  to  receive  these  unhappy  creatures, 
under  penalty  of  having  his  own  property  destroyed. 
Every  conceivable  and  inconceivable  mode  of  injuring  and 
irritating  the  Waldenses  was  had  recourse  to.  Di  Bagnolo, 
who  afterwards  died  on  the  scaff'old,  convicted  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  odious  murders,  was  ably  aided  in  this 
work  by  the  commandant  of  the  fortress  of  Miraboco,  him- 
self a  man  who,  haying  been   prosecuted  for  more  than 

(243) 


214  THE    WALDENSES. 

sixty  murders  committed  prior  to  the  marriage  of  the  duko 
of  Savoy,  had,  on  that  occasion,  received  a  pardon  for  his 
crimes. 

The  only  mortal  help  of  the  Waldenses,  under  these 
cruel  persecutions,  Avas  Gianavel,  whose  troop  of  exiles  was 
daily  augmented  by  Waldenses  expelled  from  their  homes. 
Daily,  also,  did  some  daring  exploit  signalize  the  valour 
of  Gianavel  and  his  handiti,  as  the  patriots  were  designated, 
who,  deprived  of  their  own  legitimate  means  of  subsistence, 
were  necessitated  to  levy  contributions  for  the  support  of 
themselves  and  the  distressed  mountaineers,  on  the  catholic 
towns  and  villages.  Not  a  day  passed  in  which  some 
action,  more  or  less  effective,  did  not  take  place  between 
the  Waldenses  and  their  adversaries;  the  25th  May,  1G63, 
and  the  following  17th  June,  were  especially  marked  by 
triumphs  on  the  part  of  the  protestants. 

On  the  25th  of  the  latter  month,  the  duke  of  Savoy 
issued  an  edict,  which,  under  the  pretext  of  pacifying  the 
Waldenses,  commanded  them  all  to  take  arms  against  the 
handiti,  who  were  coolly  described  as  persons  assembled 
together  for  mere  purposes  of  pillage,  having  no  sort  of 
connexion  with  the  real  question  at  issue.  Two  hundred 
and  sixty  men,  drafted  from  the  different  communes,  were 
to  collect  at  Chiabasso,  over  against  La  Torre,  and  there 
await  the  orders  of  the  commandant  of  Bricherasio.  Each 
commune  was  to  give  a  hostage  for  its  fidelity ;  and,  on 
his  part,  the  duke  promised  to  institute  an  inquiry  at  Turin 
into  the  conduct  of  the  count  di  Bagnolo,  and,  to  crown 
these  wondrous  benefits,  to  pardon  all  the  fugitive  protest- 
ants, on  condition  of  their  returning  home — that  is  to  say, 
of  their  placing  themselves  within  his  power — in  the  space 
of  fifteen  days.  By  the  same  beneficent  and  friendly  edict, 
Gianavel,  was  condemned  to  be  torn  with  pincers,  to  be 


THE    WAR    OF    THE    EXILES,  245 

quartered,  and  then  to  have  liis  head  cut  off  and  stuck  at 
the  end  of  a  pike  on  some  elevated  point.  The  condemna- 
tion of  Leger  to  death  was  reiterated,  and  Artus,  Bastia, 
Rivorio,  the  brothers  Muston,  Revel,  and  others,  in  all 
thirty-five  persons,  the  prominent  leaders  of  the  little  Wal- 
densian  army,  ^Yere  condemned  to  death,  and  the  confisca- 
tion of  their  property.  Six  other  persons  were  condemned 
to  the  galleys,  and  four  to  ten  years'  imprisonment.  Such 
was  the  clemencij  of  the  propaganda !  AVhat  its  rigours 
were,  may  be  readily  imagined. 

The  governor  of  La  Torre  and  the  ducal  treasurer- 
general  urgently  solicited  the  ^yaldenses  to  accept  these 
conditions ;  but  the  Waldenses  left  the  duke's  ultimatum 
without  reply.  The  commune  of  Prarustin  alone  declined 
to  undergo  the  responsibility  of  refusal,  with  the  valley  of 
Luzerna ;  and  the  neighbouring  seigneurs  at  once  essayed 
their  utmost  efforts  to  augment  this  dissension.  Unable  to 
effect  their  object,  they  insisted  that,  at  least,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  valley  of  Luzerna  should  give  a  proof  of  their 
peaceful  spirit,  and  of  their  fidelity,  by  escorting  a  con- 
voy of  provisions  and  ammunition  to  the  fortress  of  Mira- 
boco. 

This  fortress  commanded  the  narrowest  part  of  the  valley 
of  Luzerna,  and  closed  the  passage  into  Dauphiny,  whither, 
as  has  been  seen,  the  Waldenses  had  frequently  withdrawn 
in  times  of  persecution.  It  was  not,  then,  without  much 
distrust  that,  in  conveying  Avar  munitions  to  this  fortress, 
the  protestants  contributed  to  close  this  retreat,  in  case  of 
need,  against  themselves.  But  the  governor  of  La  Torre 
and  the  treasurer-general  solemnly  assured  them,  that,  in 
acknowledgment  of  this  act  of  submission,  the  most  com- 
plete peace  would  be  accorded  them ;  and  they  and  their 

21* 


24G  THE    WALDENSES. 

families  might  return  home  without  the  smallest  fears  for 
the  future. 

The  Waldenses  were  conforming  to  these  counsels,  when 
they  heard  that  troops,  secretly  despatched  from  Turin, 
were  marching  against  them.  Six  regiments  of  the  royal 
guard  had,  in  fact,  quitted  the  capital  on  the  29th  June, 
under  the  command  of  the  marquis  de  Fleury,  eleven  days 
before  the  expiration  of  the  delay  which  had  been  granted 
to  the  Waldenses,  within  which  they  might  return  home, 
and  four  days  before  the  expiration  of  that  within  which 
they  were  to  give  their  answer  on  the  conditions  proposed 
to  them.  Indeed,  as  was  afterwards  ascertained,  fresh 
troops  had  been  secretly  directed  towards  La  Torre  and 
Luzerna,  even  before  those  conditions  were  propounded. 
It  is,  therefore,  futile  to  excuse  the  aggression  of  which 
the  Waldenses  were  now  the  object,  on  the  plea  that  they 
had  not  obeyed  the  edict  of  25th  June,  since  the  aggres- 
sion commenced,  not  merely  before  they  had  replied  to  the 
conditions  of  that  edict,  but  even  before  the  edict  was  com- 
municated to  them. 

The  marquis  de  Fleury  marched  directly  towards  An- 
grogna,  by  the  San  Giovanni  road.  The  marquis  d'An- 
grogna,  at  the  head  of  the  cavalry  of  San  Segonzo, 
proceeded  towards  the  same  point  by  the  heights  of  Roc- 
capiatta,  while  the  infantry  advanced  thither  by  the  ascents 
of  Bricherasio.  These  various  corps  formed,  at  daybreak 
of  6th  July,  a  junction  on  the  higher  plateau,  where  all 
these  roads  met,  their  object  being  to  occupy  La  Vachera, 
which,  rising  above  that  plateau,  commands,  as  from  a 
central  point,  the  divergence  of  the  three  valleys. 

But  already  a  Waldensian  corps  of  observation  defended 
this  important  post. 

The  main  body  of  the  Waldensian  army,  commanded  by 


THE    WAR    OF    THE    EXILES.  O47 

Gianavel  in  person,  had  taken  up  a  position  lower  down, 
on  the  slopes  of  San  Giovanni ;  but  when  the  chief  wit- 
nessed the  junction,  in  his  front,  of  the  corps  of  De  Fleury 
and  of  Di  Bagnolo,  he  despatched  a  body  of  sixty  picked 
men  to  occupy  Le  Porte  d' Angrogna^  a  defile  opening  upon 
the  plateau,  and  covering  at  once  La  Vachera  and  llocca- 
raanante,  and  himself,  by  the  mountain  paths  so  intimately 
known  to  him,  led  the  rest  of  his  little  army,  now  number- 
ing not  more  than  six  hundred  men,  to  the  heights  of  Roc- 
camanante,  natural  escarpments,  almost  inaccessible  by 
the  enemy.  "  Here,"  cried  he  to  his  men,  "  here  is  our 
Tabor  !  Let  us  pray  to  the  Almighty  for  aid  and  encour- 
agement." 

The  Waldenses  had  scarcely  risen  from  their  devotion, 
when  the  enemy  were  heard  approaching.  Instantly  the 
besieged  spread  themselves  amongst  the  rocks,  occupying 
every  access,  and  from  every  opening  pouring  down  a  de- 
structive fire  upon  the  assailants.  Di  Bagnolo,  directing  a 
halt,  examined  the  position  as  closely  as  he  could,  and 
then  essayed  to  carry  it  by  assault;  but  he  was  signally 
repulsed.  After  taking  breath,  the  soldiers  attempted 
another  assult,  but  they  were  again  repulsed.  The  count 
had  already  lost  three  hundred  men  :  he  ordered  his  soldiers 
to  scale  the  rocks  ;  but  they  had  no  sooner  reached  the 
summit  than  they  were  hurled  back,  one  upon  the  other. 
Hereupon,  a  superstitious  terror  came  over  them  ;  they 
called  to  mind  all  the  tales  that  had  been  forged  by  the 
priests,  of  the  Waldenses  having  made  a  compact  with  the 
devil,  in  order  to  secure  invulnerability  ;  of  their  receiving 
in  their  shirts  the  bullets  that,  with  ordinary  men,  would 
have  riddled  their  bodies;  they  hesitated  and  drew  back; 
the  quick  eye  of  Gianavel  perceived  the  advantage  thus 
afibrded  him  :  "  Let  us  sweep  these  cowards  from  the  hill !" 


248  THE   WALDENSES. 

he  cried  to  his  men ;  and  those  hardy  warriors  rushed 
from  their  entrenchments  upon  the  wavering  foe,  who,  con- 
firmed in  their  panic  by  this  daring  and  impetuous  move- 
ment turned,  and,  carrying  the  count  di  Bagnolo  with  them 
in  their  flight,  precipitated  themselves  tumultuously  down 
the  ascent,  nor  stayed  until  they  had  got  far  into  the 
plain,  after  losing,  on  their  way,  a  considerable  number  of 
their  body. 

Gianavel,  rallying  his  heroic  army,  returned  to  the  plateau, 
and  thence,  after  a  thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  victory 
thus  vouchsafed,  proceeded  to  rejoin  the  sixty  warriors  whom 
he  had  sent  the  Porte  d'Angrogna  to  protect  his  rear.  As 
he  had  foreseen,  these  sixty  men  so  placed  had  sufficed  to 
keep  in  check,  hitherto,  the  entire  force  of  the  marquis  de 
Fleury.  But  the  latter,  having  gradually  advanced  from 
rock  to  rock,  were  about  to  hem  the  Waldenses  in,  when 
Gianavel,  coming  up  with  his  six  hundred  victors,  took 
the  enemy  in  flank  ;  and  the  sixty  besieged,  becoming  im- 
mediately assailants,  and  dashing  from  their  defile  upon 
the  advanced  ranks  of  the  foe,  the  latter,  who,  0*1  seeing 
Gianavel's  army  approach,  at  once  understood  that  Di 
Bagnolo  had  been  defeated,  also  gave  way,  and,  after  a 
short  struggle,  turned  and  fled,  hotly  pursued  by  the  Wal- 
denses. Not  fewer  than  six  hundred  of  the  enemy  fell 
dead  in  this  engagement,  and  several  hundreds  more  died 
afterwards  of  their  wounds,  while  the  Waldenses,  favoured 
by  their  position,  and  their  knowledge  of  the  ground,  lost 
in  all  not  more  than  six  men. 

Various  minor  skirmishes  took  place  in  the  course  of 
the  following  days ;  by  each  of  these  the  numbers  of  the 
enemy  were  more  or  less  diminished,  while  those  of  the 
Waldenses,  so   far   from   lessening,  were  augmented   by 


T  II 1^    W  A  R  0  F    THE    EXILES.  249 

fresh  accessions,  not  only  of  WalJenses,  but  of  French 
protestants,  "who  came  to  aid  their  persecuted  brethren. 

The  court  of  Savoy,  incredulous  that  "  a  handful  of 
rebels"  could  thus  defeat  so  powerful  an  army,  under  com- 
petent command,  imputed  the  blame  to  the  marquis  de 
Fleury,  and  accordingly  superseded  him,  appointing  the 
count  di  San  Damiano  in  his  place.  The  latter  resolved 
to  signalize  himself,  marched,  the  day  after  his  arrival, 
from  Luzerna,  at  the  head  of  one  thousand  five  hundred 
troops,  to  attack  the  village  of  E,ora,  defended  by  fifteen 
Waldenses  and  eight  Frenchmen.  These  heroic  men  did 
their  utmost  against  the  over\Yhelming  force  that  assailed 
them,  but,  as  a  matter  of  course,  were  defeated,  and  cut 
in  pieces,  one  of  them  excepted,  who  was  taken  prisoner. 

Intoxicated  with  this  glorious  victory,  the  marquis,  next 
day,  made  an  irruption  into  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  and 
had  reached  and  set  fire  to  the  village  of  Santa  Margarita, 
when  the  Waldenses,  two  hundred  in  number,  descending 
by  the  defile  of  Copiere,  attacked  them  on  the  sudden, 
dispersed  them,  put  them  to  flight,  and  killed  several 
hundred  of  them. 

Charles  Emanuel,  finding  that  unskillfulness  in  his  gen- 
erals was  not  the  only  cause  of  the  disastrous  turn  for  him 
which  this  intestine  war  was  assuming,  resolved  to  try  the 
effect  of  one  comprehensive  stroke  of  intimidation,  and  ac- 
cordingly published,  10th  of  August,  1G63,  a  decree  by 
which  all  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  valleys  were  declared 
guilty  of  high  treason,  and,  as  such,  condemned  to  death, 
and  the  confiscation  of  their  goods.  The  decree,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  produced  no  effect  whatever  ;  and  the 
Waldenses,  sufi"ering  as  they  were  from  bitter  privations, 
still  kept  the  field,  and  still  defeated  the  ducal  troops, 
wherever  these  presented   themselves.     Next  peace  was 


250  THE    WALDENSES. 

offered  to  the  persecuted  folk,  on  condition  that  they 
would  lay  down  their  arms,  that  they  would  not  raise  the 
question  of  religion,  and  that  each  commune  of  the  valleys 
having  any  representation  to  make  should  make  it  separa- 
tely. In  other  words,  the  Waldenses  were  to  place  them- 
selves defenceless  in  the  hands  of  their  relentless  foes, 
were  to  surrender  the  very  point  for  which  they  were  con- 
tending, and  were  to  dissolve  the  very  union  which 
constituted  their  strength.  The  offer  was  at  once  rejected. 
Next,  the  propaganda  published  a  declaration,  purporting 
to  be  a  repudiation,  on  the  part  of  the  Waldenses  of 
Prarustin,  of  the  proceedings  of  their  co-religionists;  an 
appeal  to  the  clemency  of  the  duke ;  an  entire  submission 
to  his  will ;  and  a  full  acceptance  of  the  edict  of  10th 
August.  It  was  ascertained,  upon  investigation,  first,  that 
this  declaration  was  that  of  only  six  persons,  five  of  whom 
could  not  even  sign  their  names  ;  and,  secondly,  that  even 
these  six  persons  had  only  contemplated  a  solicitation  for  a 
truce  of  a  few  weeks  in  order  that  they  might  gather  in  the 
vintage,  then  ripe.  Such  was  the  pitiable  policy  of  the 
propaganda  ! 

At  length,  upon  the  mediation  of  Holland,  Germany, 
and  the  protestant  Swiss  cantons,  the  duke,  wearied  and, 
disgusted  with  a  contest  in  itself  revolting  to  his  naturally 
good  sense  and  good  heart,  consented  to  a  conference. 
Ambassadors  from  the  mediating  powers  reached  Turin, 
in  November,  1663,  and,  an  insidious  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  priests  to  compromise  the  Waldenses  in  the  eyes  of 
their  foreign  allies  having  failed,  eight  deputies  from  the 
valleys  soon  afterwards  joined  them  there,  and  the  confer- 
ences commenced. 


MMh^MMi 


C^iiftrr  Cmnitii-tljirii. 


CONFERENCES    AT     T  U  R  IN  .  — A  R  B  I  T  R  A  T  I  0  N    OF 
LOUIS    XIY. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  1663,  the  conference  between 
the  representatives  of  the  six  protestant  cantons  of  Swit- 
zerhmd  and  the  representatives  of  Charles  Emanuel,  on  the 
subject  of  the  complaints  of  the  Waldenscs  against  the 
governor  of  La  Torre,  opened  at  the  H6tel-de-A^ille  of 
Turin.  The  ducal  representatives  commenced  the  proceed- 
ings by  narrating  their  view  of  the  events  which  had  led 
to  the  war,  and  which,  according  to  them,  resolved  them- 
selves into  repeated  rebellions  of  the  Waldenscs.  The 
deputies  of  the  latter  replied  that  the  real  cause  of  the  con- 
flicts they  so  much  deplored,  was  the  aggressions  and  vio- 
lence of  the  governor  of  La  Torre.  They  cited,  in  proof 
of  their  allegations,  infinite  murders,  robberies,  tortures, 
and  other  violences  that  had  been  committed  by  the  count. 
The  count  replied  tl\at  the  murders  of  which  he  was  accused 
had  not  been  committed  by  him,  but  had  been  the  result 
of  private  vengeance;  that  the  only  persons  who  had 
been  killed  by  his  orders  were  outlaws,  who  were  in  rebel- 
lion ao-ainst  the  state,  or  their  friends  and  relatives.  He 
admitted  that  private  houses  might  have  been  broken  into; 
but  this,  he  said,  had  only  been  for  the  purpose  of  domi- 
ciliary visits,  necessary  for  the  discovery  of  persons  de- 

(251) 


252  THEWALDENSES. 

nounced  by  the  law.  He  added  that,  after  the  25th  of 
June,  he  could  not  be  responsible  for  any  excesses  "which 
might  have  been  committed,  because  troops  had  then  come 
into  the  valleys  over  whom  he  had  no  effectual  control. 
He  distinctly  denied  the  insults  and  menaces  which  had 
been  imputed  to  him  ;  but  he  admitted  that  he  had  retained 
a  band  of  devastators,  in  order  to  oppose  the  men  of  the 
valleys.  The  memorial  which  set  forth  this  defence  con- 
cluded with  the  assurance  "that  the  sieur  di  Bagnolo  had 
endeavoured,  with  every  sort  of  mildness  and  especial  care, 
to  keep  the  valleys  in  peace,  and  to  separate  them  from  all 
intercourse  with  the  bandits,  who  had  precipitated  them 
into  so  inexcusable  a  rebellion."  The  Waldenses  were 
then  formally  charged  with  a  series  of  contraventions  of 
the  obedience  due  to  their  sovereign.  And  it  was  said 
that  if  they  had  to  complain  of  violence,  they  should  have 
appealed  to  the  laws.  The  answer  was,  that  they  had 
appealed  to  the  laws,  and  had  obtained  no  redress.  With 
regard  to  public  worship,  the  Waldenses  contended  that 
the  right  to  celebrate  their  religion  had  been  granted  to 
them  by  repeated  edicts.  Upon  this  point,  as  upon  the 
preceding,  there  was  a  long  discussion  between  the  repre- 
sentatives on  both  sides,  originating  in  the  most  futile 
objections  on  the  part  of  the  popish  councillors.  The 
heaviest  charge  against  the  Waldenses  was,  that  they  had 
given  aid  and  asylum  to  the  exiles.  The  simple  answer  to 
this  was,  that  the  exiles  in  question  were  the  brothers, 
fathers,  or  other  near  relatives  of  those  who  had  given 
them  assistance,  and  that  to  make  the  assistance  so  ren- 
dered matter  of  criminality,  even  against  the  individuals, 
■was  altogether  unreasonable  and  inhuman;  still  moi'e  un- 
reasonable was  it  to  make  the  whole  people  responsible. 
These  first  conferences  terminated  on  the  31  st  of  De- 


CONFERENCES    AT    TURIN.  253 

cember ;  and,  as  their  result,  the  ducal  commissioners 
decided  that  the  Waldenses  had  no  cause  of  complaint ; 
and  that  their  taking  up  arms  had  been  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  exciting  sjanpatby  in  their  favour  abroad,  Avith 
a  view  to  the  obtaining  pecuniary  assistance.  The  alle- 
gation was  simply  ridiculous.  The  collateral  conduct  of 
the  propaganda  was  odious:  Kulla  fides  servanda  licurcticis. 
While  these  conferences  were  proceeding,  while  the  poor 
mountaineers,  hoping  a  favourable  issue,  observed  on  their 
part  the  suspension  of  hostilities,  the  natural  pendant  of 
the  state  of  negotiation,  the  propaganda  were  plotting  their 
complete  extermination  by  an  act  of  treachery.  The 
second  sitting  of  the  commissioners  was  on  the  21st  of 
December;  on  the  20th  of  December  an  order  was  drawn 
up,  regulating  "  the  distribution  of  the  troops  for  four 
attacks  on  the  rebels  of  the  valleys  of  Luzerna  and  St. 
Martin,  to  be  made  to-morrow."  On  the  morrow  accord- 
ingly, 21st  of  December,  1663,  the  count  di  San  Damiano 
marched  upon  Prarustin,  by  San  Segonzo,  at  the  head  of 
sixteen  hundred  and  fifty-five  foot  and  fifty  horse;  the 
marquis  de  Parelli  advanced  towards  Angrogna  by  La 
Garsinera,  with  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-six  foot  and 
fifty  horse,  and  the  count  Genegli  towards  the  same  point, 
but  by  Le  Porte  and  San  German,  with  a  battalion  of 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-six  men.  Captain  Cagnolo 
occupied  the  plain  of  San  Giovanni  with  one  hundred 
horse,  ready  to  proceed  wherever  circumstances  should 
call  him ;  while  the  governor  of  La  Torre,  the  same  count 
di  Bagnolo  who  was  so  solicitous  for  the  peace  of  the  Wal- 
denses, was  to  march  against  the  protestants,  at  the  head 
of  eleven  hundred  and  eighteen  men,  by  Le  Copiere  and 
Santa  Margarita.  It  was  in  this  latter  direction  that  the 
attack   began.     The  Waldenses  were  driven  from  Santa 


254  THE   WALDENSES. 

Maigarita  upon  Le  Copiere,  and  from  Le  Copiere  upon 
Tagliarette.  Here,  however,  they  made  a  stand,  en- 
trenched among  the  rocks,  until  they  saw  a  troop  of  their 
brethren  marching  up  from  Angrogna.  Thus  enforced, 
from  assailed  they  became  assailants,  and  while  making  an 
impetuous  sortie  upon  the  front  of  the  enemy,  while  the 
Angrognese  attacked  them  in  the  flank,  the  superstitious 
terror  which  the  Waldenses  had  so  often  before  excited  in 
'the  minds  of  their  adversaries  again  manifested  itself. 
The  papist  troops,  once  vacillating,  were  speedily  put  to 
the  rout  by  the  combined  Waldenses,  who  drove  them  down 
into  the  plain  of  La  Torre.  At  Angrogna  itself,  defended 
by  captain  Prionello,  the  marquis  de  Parelli  was  especially 
unsuccessful.  At  San  Gerrnano,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
count  de  Genegli  completely  defeated  the  Waldenses,  de- 
vastated their  fields  and  their  vineyards,  and  burned  their 
houses.  At  Roccapiatta,  a  poor  woman,  nearly  a  hundred 
years  old,  and  bed-ridden,  was  burned  alive;  at  San  Ger- 
rnano, a  young  woman,  after  being  monstrously  outraged, 
had  the  flesh  cut  from  her  bones  in  long  shreds,  and  was 
then  left  to  die  in  their  torture.  Several  men,  in  the  same 
place,  were  mutilated  in  a  manner  that  cannot  be  described. 
Such  are  the  tender  mercies  of  popery  !  But  the  Wal- 
denses, though  themselves  vanquished,  made  the  victory 
very  bitter  to  their  enemies :  more  than  a  hundred  of  the 
popish  soldiery  were  slain,  and  there  fell,  besides,  the  count 
de  la  Trinite,  a  descendant  of  him  who  so  cruelly  perse- 
cuted the  AValdenses  in  the  preceding  century ;  the  young 
count  de  Saint-Frons,  a  descendant  of  the  old  persecutors 
of  the  Waldenses  in  the  valley  of  Praviglelmo ;  captain 
Biala,  and  M.  de  Grand-Maison. 

When  the  Swiss  ambassadors  were  made  acquainted  with 
these   aggressions,  they  loudly  complained  to  the  duke's 


MEDIATION    OP    S  W  I  T  Z  E  II  L  A  N  D  .  055 

ministers  of  so  outrageous  a  violation  of  the  armistice.  It 
was  replied,  that  the  troops  of  his  royal  highness,  being  in 
want  of  provisions,  had  merely  taken  measures  for  extend- 
ing their  quarters.  "But  how  do  you  account  for  these 
burnings,  these  massacres,  that  have  taken  place !" — 
"  The  Waldenses  resisted  the  movements  of  our  troops, 
and  some  slight  collisions  occurred,  in  A\hich  a  few  men 
were  killed,  and  a  few  houses  burned,  bij  Inadvertence  ! 

Was  the  distribution  of  the  troops,  on  the  20th  of  De- 
cember, "for  the  four  attacks  on  the  rebels,"  an  inadver- 
tence ? 

The  Swiss  deputies,  fain  to  be  content  with  these 
manifest  falsehoods,  resumed  the  negotiations;  and  at  last 
it  was  agreed  that  the  basis  of  an  arrangement  should  be 
preserved  to  the  Waldenses,  under  the  title  of  patents  of 
grace  ;  for  the  duke  of  Savoy  could  not  consent,  from  the 
height  of  his  sovereign  dignity,  to  treat  these  "  miserable 
heretics"  on  equal  terms.  Whatever  was  granted  therefore 
was  to  be  granted  as  wholly  matter  of  grace  :  and,  being  so 
accepted  by  the  Waldenses,  necessarily  involved  an  acknow- 
ledgment that  there  had  been  rebellion  on  their  part, 
which  neither  they  nor  the  Swiss  ambassadors  at  all  ad- 
mitted. The  Waldenses,  accordingly,  hesitated  whether 
they  should  accept  the  propositions  on  such  terms;  but 
their  Swiss  protectors  urging  them  not  to  compromise 
the  question  by  insisting  upon  mere  points  of  language, 
they  assented,  and  it  was  agreed  that  a  general  amnesty 
should  be  granted  to  the  Waldenses  with  the  exception  of 
such  as  had  been  condemned  by  the  edict  of  the  25th  of 
June,  1663  ;  and,  secondly,  that  Charles  Emanuel,  should 
ratify  the  patents  of  grace  granted  at  Pignerol,  the  18th 
of  August,  1655  ;  reserving  to  himself  power  to  require 
from  the  Waldenses  guarantees  for  the  future,  and  fitting 


256  THE    WALDENSES. 

satisfaction  for  recent  occurrences,  under  the  arbitration 
of  the  king  of  France. 

This  arbitration,  as  a  matter  of  course,  became  the 
source  of  a  thousand  difficulties.  The  next  clause  of  the 
jyatents  of  grace  of  16G4  related  to  religious  exercises  at 
San  Giovanni.  Public  worship  was  forbidden  there  to  the 
protestants.  A  pastor  might  repair  thither,  twice  a  year, 
to  visit  the  faithful,  but  he  was  not  to  reside  there,  nor 
even  to  pass  a  night  there,  except  in  case  of  absolute  neces- 
sity. He  might  visit  the  sick,  but  he  was  not  to  hold  any 
religious  meeting,  nor  even  instruct  any  catechumens  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  parish. 

This  clause,  also,  became  the  source  of  infinite  vexations 
to  the  Waldenses,  of  charges  easily  made,  but  with 
difficulty  refuted.  A  narration  of  the  annoyances  and  op- 
pressions which  the  Waldenses  endured  under  this  clause 
would  alone  occupy  a  volume. 

Article  sixth  enacted  that  the  pastors  of  the  Waldensian 
churches  must  thenceforward  be  natives  of  the  valleys. 
This  condition  was  beneficial  to  them,  in  fortifying  their 
evangelical  individuality,  which  was  in  danger  of  becoming 
enfeebled  under  the  too  protracted  direction  of  foreign 
pastors. 

Article  seventh  declared  that  the  catholic  churches  and 
chapels  which  had  been  destroyed  in  the  last  war  should  be 
rebuilt  at  the  cost  of  the  Waldenses. 

Article  eighth  provided  that  the  prisoners  on  both  sides 
should  be  released. 

An  agreement  to  disarm  was  respectively  adopted  upon 
the  promulgation  of  this  document,  and  the  duke  of  Savoy 
wrote  to  the  Swiss  cantons,  by  their  delegates,  that  he 
would  in  every  respect  adhere  to  the  terms  of  the  settle- 
ment. 


ARBITRATION    OF    LOUIS    XIV.  257 

After  their  infinite  troubles,  the  Waldenses  now  began 
to  hope  that  they  should  enjoy  some  repose;  when  all  at 
once  they  received  orders  to  send  to  Turin  delegates  em- 
powered, in  the  name  of  the  entire  people,  to  recognise 
the  guarantees  and  indemnities  required  by  Charles  Eman- 
uel in  virtue  of  Article  second  of  the  treaty. 

On  assembling  at  the  appointed  place  and  time,  the 
duke  of  Savoy  informed  the  Waldenses  that  they  must 
pay  him  five  hundred  and  eighty-one  thousand  francs,  as 
the  expense  of  the  war,  and  a  further  sum  of  three  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-seven  francs 
to  indemnify  the  catholic  townis  for  damages  undergone 
during  the  war ;  fifty  thousand  francs  for  rebuilding  the 
walls  of  Luzerna ;  forty  thousand  for  customs'  duties 
omitted ;  twenty-five  thousand  for  other  taxes  omitted  ; 
the  sum  necessary  for  repairing  the  fortifications  of  La 
Torre  and  Miraboco  ;  &c.  &c.  In  other  Avords,  the  perse- 
cuted were  required  to  sacrifice  the  last  wreck  of  their 
fortune,  and  to  indebt  themselves  for  the  future,  in  order 
to  defray  the  expenses  occasioned  by  the  barbarities  of 
their  persecutors.  Such  were  the  indemnities  demanded 
by  Charles  Emanuel;  the  guarantees  he  required  Avere, 
that  at  the  entrance  of  each  valley,  the  Waldenses  should, 
at  their  own  cost,  erect  a  fortress,  to  be  garrisoned  by 
ducal  troops,  who  were  to  be  maintained  at  the  expense 
of  the  Waldenses;  that  they  should  hold  no  svnod  without 
the  presence  of  one  of  his  officers  ;  that  the  Waldensian 
communes  should  not  thenceforward  hold  any  political 
union,  but  each  manage  its  own  affairs,  without  consulting 
tlie  others;  in  other  words,  that  they  should  hand  them> 
selves  over  to  the  enemy,  to  be  destroyed  in  detail.  The 
Waldenses  rejecting  these  preposterous  terms,  Louis  XIV. 
was  appealed  to,  by   common   consent,  as   an  arbitrator. 


258  THE    WALDENSES. 

The  award  of  his  most  Christian  majesty  was  far  more 
moderate  than  might  have  been  expected.  He  decided 
that  the  Waldenses  should  contribute  fifty  thousand  francs 
towards  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  cede  to  the 
duke  the  vineyards  of  Luzerna,  in  compensation  for  the 
losses  he  had  incurred  by  "  the  rebellion"  of  the  protes- 
tants.  Various  intercessions  for  more  favourable  terms, 
on  the  part  of  diiferent  foreign  powers,  protracted  the 
settlement  of  the  matter,  from  month  to  month,  from  year 
to  year,  and  at  last,  in  1670,  the  duke  modifying  his  de- 
mands and  granting  new  privileges,  he  and  his  Waldensian 
subjects  came  to  a  good  understanding  ;  and  the  latter, 
both  at  the  siege  of  Genoa  and  at  the  revolt  of  Mondovi, 
did  such  good  service  to  their  sovereign,  as  to  merit,  on 
both  occasions,  the  emphatic  thanks  proclaimed  in  the 
manifest  form  of  orders  of  the  day.  On  the  former 
occasion,  the  duke  wrote  to  the  apostolic  nuncio : 
"Were  I  to  heed  only  the  dictates  of  sound  policy,  I 
should  wish  the  Waldenses  to  multiply  instead  of  diminish- 
ing, for  they  are  faithful,  laborious,  well-disposed,  useful 
to  the  country,"  &c. 

Victor  Amadous,  with  whom  the  ducal  was  destined  to 
become  a  regal  crown,  succeeded  his  father  in  1675 ;  and 
being  at  that  time  only  nine  years  of  age,  the  affairs  of 
the  state  were  administered  under  the  regency  of  his 
mother,  who,  in  his  name,  fully  ratified  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Waldenses.  The 
independence  and  repose  of  this  people  seemed  now  estab- 
lished on  a  permanent  basis ;  but  the  ways  of  God  are  not 
our  ways,  and  the  poor  churches  of  the  valleys,  already  so 
sorely  tried,  were  now,  in  reality,  more  than  ever  in  danger 
of  annihilation. 


Cljaptn'  Cmnitij-fourtli, 


COMiMENCEMENT   OF    THE    FOURTH   PERSECUTION. 

GiANAVEL,  excepted  from  the  amnesty,  and  fain  to  seek 
refuge  in  a  foreign  land,  had  retired  to  Geneva,  where,  in 
Ms  privacy,  he  never  ceased  to  apply  his  energetic  mind 
to  the  affairs  of  his  oppressed  faith  and  his  oppressed 
country. 

France  was,  at  this  time,  of  all  the  states  of  Europe, 
that  which  weighed  heaviest  in  the  scale  of  their  respective 
destinies  ;  but  the  monarch  of  France,  potent  as  he  was  in 
many  respects,  was  quite  as  weak  in  others.  Kesolute 
towards  terrestrial  powers,  he  bowed  beneath  the  power 
of  superstition,  and  submitted  himself,  in  the  credulous 
terror  of  ignorance,  to  the  iron  sway  of  the  ministers  of 
superstition.  His  dissolute  life,  varied  with  fits  of  devo- 
tion, his  haughty  soul,  his  utter  selfishness,  could  only  be 
swayed  by  the  accommodating  and  ambitious  power  of 
popery,  which,  in  its  turn,  used  him  as  a  means  of  ^  crush- 
ing liberty.  The  greatest  enemy  of  superstition  being  the 
Bible,  and  all  who  appealed  to  the  authority  of  that  book 
incurring  the  pertinacious  hostility  of  Catholicism,  the  con- 
fessors of  the  most  Christian  king  persuaded  this  monarch 
that  the  most  effectual  mode  by  which  he  could  secure  at 
once  his  renown  and  his  salvation,  was  the  extermination 

259 


260  THE    WALDENSES. 

of  the  protestants.  The  first  proceeding  of  this  respectable 
champion  of  popery  was  to  set  about  the  purchase  of  con- 
versions ;  and  a  regular  account  current  of  expenditure  and 
receipts — the  former  in  money,  the  latter  in  conversions — 
was  opened,  and  submitted  to  the  king.  Whole  troops  of 
vagrants  turned  this  plan  to  their  own  account :  calling 
themselves  protestants,  they  would  abjure  by  scores,  in 
one  town ;  having  received  the  price  of  their  conversion, 
they  would  proceed  to  some  other  town,  abjure  again,  and 
receive  a  fresh  reward  ;  and  so,  from  one  end  of  France  to 
the  other,  the  scandalous  farce  proceeded,  until  the  money 
available  for  such  venal  apostacy  had  become  exhausted. 
Before  long,  however,  the  royal  spouse  of  Maria  Theresa 
having  committed  another  crying  sin  against  his  marriage 
vow,  the  popish  counsellors  about  him  took  advantage  of 
the  circumstance  to  excite  a  reaction  of  spiritual  fervour 
in  him,  of  which  the  protestant  worship  soon  suifered 
the  cruel  effects.  Twenty-one  of  their  churches  were 
demolished,  in  the  Vivarais,  in  the  single  year  1680 ;  pro- 
scriptions multiplied,  the  exercise  of  public  functions  was 
prohibited  to  the  reformers;  nay,  by  the  ordinance  of  the 
2d  of  December,  IGSl,  they  were  absolutely  forbidden  to 
practice  as  physicians,  notaries,  printers,  &c.,  that  is  to 
say,  were  forbidden  to  make  their  living  by  the  honest 
industry  to  which  they  had  been  trained. 

The  dragonades  came  next.  Louvois,  already  laden 
with  the  crimes  and  calamities  inflicted  upon  the  Palatinate 
under  his  command,  wrote  to  Louis  XIV.,  with  reference 
to  the  Vivarais  :  "  We  must  make  such  desolation  in  that  dis- 
trict that  it  may  ever  after  operate  as  an  example."  This 
was  not  enough :  in  order  to  strike  a  comprehensive  blow 
at  protestantism,  the  edict  of  Nantes  was  revoked,  18th 
October,  1685.     The  eflfect  of  this  revocation  was  instanta* 


FOURTH    PERSECUTION.  261 

neous  and  terrible.  A  great  number  of  French  protestants 
transferred  to  foreign  lands  their  intelligence,  their  informa- 
tion, their  virtues,  and  their  fortunes,  acquired  or  to  be  ac- 
quired. This  single  act  did  more  to  enfeeble  France  than 
all  the  victories  of  Louis  XIV.  had  done  to  strengthen  her. 

Hitherto,  while  men  had  interdicted  the  reformed  wor- 
ship, belief  had  not  been  interdicted.  This  improvement 
was  now  adopted ;  civil  death  was  pronounced  upon  all 
protestants,  and,  of  consequence,  all  their  acts  were  de- 
clared null  and  void ;  their  marriages  were  set  aside,  and 
their  children  born,  or  to  be  born,  declared  illegitimate. 
Whoever,  having  therefore  abjured,  or  appeared  to  abjure, 
protestantism,  refused,  on  his  or  her  sick  bed,  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  popish  church,  was  drawn  out  on  a  hurdle  and 
thrown  on  the  wayside,  if  he  died,  or  condemned  to  the 
galleys  if  he  recovered  ;  and  whether  dead  or  alive,  his 
whole  property  became  confiscated  to  the  king. 

Proceeding  from  bad  to  vrorse,  this  same  king,  prostrate 
and  drivelling  at  the  feet  of  his  imperious  confessor,  Letel- 
lier,  next  signed  an  edict,  by  which,  all  protestants  being, 
in  the  first  clause,  declared  converts  to  Catholicism,  all 
such  of  these  converts  as  refused  to  conform  to  the  prac- 
tice of  the  communion  to  which  they  were  so  annexed, 
were  to  be  treated  as  relapsed  persons ;  that  is  to  say,  were 
to  be  drawn  out  on  a  hurdle  and  thrown  on  the  wayside, 
dead,  or  condemned  to  the  galleys,  living,  their  property 
being,  in  either  case,  confiscated  to  the  use  of  his  most 
Christian  majesty. 

Never  had  such  revolting  iniquities  sullied  even  the 
cruel  persecutions  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy.  Yictor  Ama- 
deus  himself  emphatically  expressed  his  disapprobation. 
Many  distinguished  catholics,  such  as  the  cardinal  de 
Noailles,  Flechier,  Fenelon,  protested  against  the  injury 


262  THEWALDENSES. 

thus  inflicted  on  the  interests  of  France.  Vauban,  the 
great  engineer,  drew  up  a  memorial,  representing  this 
involuntary  exile  of  a  hundred  thousand  Frenchmen  as  a 
grave  political  and  social  calamity  for  France ;  showing 
that  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  and  its  attend- 
ant measures,  would  most  materially  damage  commerce 
and  trade,  disorganize  society,  and  strengthen  hostile  fleets 
with  nine  thousand  sailors,  and  hostile  armies  with  six  hun- 
dred ofiicers  and  twelve  thousand  soldiers,  among  the  best 
then  in  France.  Hereupon  "  the  great  king"  issued  an 
ordonnance  that  whosoever  should  expatriate  himself  should 
be  condemned  to  death  and  confiscation  of  goods ;  that  is, 
he  said  to  his  protestant  subjects:  "You  shall  be  massa- 
cred and  despoiled  if  you  stay  in  my  kingdom,  you  shall 
be  exterminated  and  despoiled  if  you  quit  it  !" 

On  the  12th  of  October,  1685,  Louis  wrote  to  the  mar- 
quis d'Arcy,  his  ambassador  at  Turin,  informing  him  that 
he  had  ordered  d'Harleville,  governor  of  the  French 
valleys  of  Perosa  and  Pragela,  Cesana,  Usseaux,  Meano, 
Exili,  Traversa,  Salabertrans,  and  Bardonneche,  to  convert 
the  valleys  within  his  jurisdiction,  "  by  lodging  his  troops,"* 
and  desiring  him  to  exhort  the  duke  of  Savoy,  "  whose  an- 
cestors had  ever  ill  endured  the  exercise  of  the  protestant 
religion,"  to  adopt  similar  means,  in  his  own  valleys,  to 
the  same  end.  On  the  27th  of  October,  the  marquis 
informed  his  sovereign  that  he  had  duly  impressed  upon 
the  duke  the  extraordinarily  favourable  opportunity  afforded 
by  the  vicinity  of  the  French  troops,  for  bringing  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  pseudo-reformed  religion  to  reason  ;  the  duke 

*  All  protestants,  "  obstinate  in  their  heresy,"  were  compelled  to 
lodge,  board,  and  pay  for  the  soldiers,  who,  on  their  part,  were  di- 
rected to  injure,  insult,  and  annoy,  in  every  conceivable  and  incon- 
ceivable way,  those  upon  whom  they  were  billeted. 


FOUKTII    PERSECUTION.  263 

he  said,  had  requested  time  to  consider  the  matter,  for  that 
the  enterprise  thus  counselled  had  been  attempted  repeat- 
edly by  his  ancestors,  not  merely  without  success,  but  witli 
great  detriment  to  the  state.  To  this,  the  marquis  re- 
ported, that  he  had  replied  that  those  ancestors  had  never 
had  facilities  so  great  as  were  now  proffered  b}'  the  most 
Christian  king,  but  that,  of  course,  his  royal  highness 
"  would  do  as  he  pleased  in  the  matter ;  it  was  his  interest 
alone  that  his  most  Christian  majesty  thought  of." 

On  the  10th  of  November,  Louis  XIV.  again  wrote  to 
the  marquis,  complaining  that  the  duke  of  Savoy  "  mani- 
fested no  firm  resolution  to  labour  efficaciously  at  this 
great  affair,  which  yet  can  never  be  brought  to  a  success- 
ful issue  by  such  slight  attempts  as  those  proposed  by  his 
royal' highness ;"  urging  that  the  duke  must  be  made  to 
understand  that  his  glory  was  concerned  in  bringing  his 
subjects,  at  whatev^er  cost,  to  the  feet  of  the  church,  and 
promising  to  aid  him  with  any  troops  he  might  require 
"for  the  execution  of  so  pious  a  design."  In  his  reply, 
on  the  24th  of  November,  the  marquis  states  that  "  he  had 
renewed  to  the  duke  the  offers  of  his  most  Christian  majesty 
in  aid  of  the  conversion  of  the  Waldenses,  but  that  his 
royal  highness — a  prince  of  extreme  reserve  and  of  a  very 
independent  turn — had  merely  repeated  his  thanks  for  the 
interest  taken  by  the  most  Christian  king  in  his  affairs." 
The  ambassador  adds  :  "  It  seems  very  doubtful  whether 
the  duke  will  adopt  the  measures  proposed  by  your  majesty, 
for  when  the  ministers,  the  marquis  di  San  Tommaso  and 
the  president  de  Truchsis,  who  both  entirely  concur  with 
your  majesty,  have  spoken  to  him  on  the  subject,  he  has 
scarcely  given  them  an  answer  at  all."  The  popish  coun- 
sellors of  his  most  Christian  majesty  were  not  to  be  thus 
frustrated,  and,  on  the  7th  of  December,  Louis  again  wrote 


264  THE  WALDENSES, 

to  his  ambassador  at  Turin:  ''So  long  as  the  duke  shall 
suffer  Huguenots  to  subsist  on  the  frontiers  of  my  state,  his 
authority  -will  not  suffice  to  prevent  desertion  on  the  part 
of  my  Calvinist  subjects ;  this,  he  must  be  clearly  sensible, 
I  shall  not  endure ;  and  the  insolence  of  these  heretics 
exciting  my  irrepressible  indignation,  the  result  might  be 
that  I  should  no  longer  entertain  towards  him  those  senti- 
ments of  friendship  which  I  have  hitherto  manifested. 
I  feel  assured  he  will  seriously  reflect  hereupon." 

The  duke,  apparently,  did  reflect  seriously  upon  this 
very  emphatic  intimation,  for,  on  the  31st  of  January, 
1686,  appeared  the  fatal  edict  which  caused  such  infinite 
misery  to  the  valleys,  and  seemed,  for  awhile,  to  have 
effected  the  complete  annihilation  of  the  Waldensian  church. 
"Heresy,"  the  edict  set  forth,  "has  extended  from  the 
centre  of  the  valley  of  Luzerna  to  the  heart  of  Piedmont. 
Our  ancestors  have  often  undertaken  to  extirpate  it,  but, 
by  means  of  the  succours  which  the  religionists  have 
received  from  foreign  countries,  the  holy  work  of  their 
return  to  the  Romush  church  has  not  been  accomplished ; 
and  since,  at  present,  the  principal  reason  that  existed  for 
tolerating  them  has  been  removed,  by  the  zeal  and  piety 
of  the  glorious  monarch  of  France,  who  has  brought  to  the 
true  faith  the  heretics  contiguous  to  the  Waldensian  val- 
leys, we  deem  that  his  most  Christian  majesty  might 
accuse  us  of  ingratitude  for  his  signal  favour,  which  we 
still  enjoy,  were  we  to  let  pass  the  opportunity  of  exe- 
cuting this  important  design,  pursuant  to  the  intention 
ever  entertained  by  our  glorious  predecessors. 

"  Upon  which  grounds,  and  for  other  pressing  reasons, 
we  have,  of  our  full  authority,  certain  knowledge,  good 
pleasure,  and  absolute  power,  decreed  as  follows : — 


FOURTH    PERSECUTION.  265 

"I.  The  Waldenses  shall  henceforth  and  forever  cease 
and  discontinue  all  the  exercises  of  their  religion. 

"II.  They  are  forbidden  to  have  religious  meetings, 
under  pain  of  death  and  penalty  of  confiscation  of  all  their 
goods. 

"  III.  All  their  ancient  privileges  are  abolished. 

"IV.  All  the  churches,  prayer-houses,  and  other  edi- 
fices, consecrated  to  their  -n-orship,  shall  be  rased  to  the 
ground. 

"  y.  All  the  pastors  and  schoolmasters  of  the  valleys 
are  required  either  to  embrace  Catholicism  or  to  quit  the 
country  within  fifteen  days,  under  pain  of  death  and  con- 
fiscation of  goods. 

"  YI.  All  the  children  born,  or  to  be  born,  of  protest- 
ant  parents,  shall  be  compulsorily  trained  up  as  Homan 
catholics.  Every  such  child,  yet  unborn,  shall,  within  a 
week  after  its  birth,  be  brought  to  the  cur^  of  its  parish, 
and  admitted  of  the  catholic  church,  under  pain,  on  the 
part  of  the  mother,  of  being  publicly  whipped  with  rods, 
and  on  the  part  of  the  father,  of  labouring  five  years  in  the 
galleys. 

"  VII.  The  Waldensian  pastors,  who  shall  abjure  the 
doctrine  they  have  hitherto  preached,  shall  receive  a  salary 
greater  by  one-third  than  that  which  they  previously 
enjoyed ;  and  one-half  thereof  shall  go  in  reversion  to 
their  widows. 

"VIII.  All  protestant  foreigners  settled  in  Piedmont 
are  ordered  either  to  catholicise  or  to  quit  the  country 
within  fifteen  days. 

"IX.  By  a  special  act  of  his  great  and  paternal  cle- 
mency, the  sovereign  will  permit  all  such  persons  to  sell, 
in  this  interval,  the  property  they  may  have  acquired  in 
23 


0(36  THE     WALDENSES. 

Piedmont,  provided  the  sale  be  made  to  catholic  pur- 
chasers." 

It  is  impossible  adequately  to  describe  the  consternation, 
the  affliction,  the  indignation,  created  throughout  the  val- 
leys by  the  promulgation  of  this  monstrous  edict.  All  the 
parishes  immediately  appointed  delegates,  who  assembled  at 
Angrogna,  to  deliberate  upon  the  defence  of  the  common 
interests.  Their  first  proceeding  "W'as  to  draw  up  an  ear- 
nest but  respectful  supplication  to  the  duke,  for  the  revo- 
cation of  the  edict ;  but  all  they  could  obtain  was  a  brief 
delay  in  its  execution.  The  next  course  was  to  seek  the 
intervention  of  the  protestant  cantons  of  Switzerland. 
That  generous  nation,  at  once  responding  to  the  appeal, 
addressed  earnest  letters  to  the  court  of  Turin,  in  favour 
of  the  Waldenses.  The  letters  remained  unanswered. 
Next,  by  an  extraordinary  assembly,  held  at  Baden,  26th 
of  February,  1686,  it  was  resolved  that  special  envoys 
should  be  despatched  into  Piedmont,  for  the  purpose,  if 
possible,  of  rescuing  the  Israel  of  the  Alps  from  the 
destruction  that  menaced  it.  The  ambassadors  selected, 
Gaspard  and  Bernard  de  Murat,  both  councillors  of  state, 
reached  Turin  in  the  beginning  of  March,  and  solicited  an 
audience  of  Victor  Amadous  :  it  was  refused. 

Meanwhile,  the  delay  which  had  been  granted  to  the 
Waldenses  was  on  the  point  of  expiration,  and  the  urgency 
of  the  French  ambassador,  of  the  papal  nuncio,  and  of  the 
propaganda,  grew  daily  more  pressing  upon  Victor  Ama- 
deus.  Already,  in  their  persecuting  ardour,  several  bands 
of  popish  volunteers  had  commenced  hostilities  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  the  valleys,  and  the  impatience  of  the 
French  troops  cantoned  at  Pignerol  could  hardly  be 
restrained. 

The  mountaineers,  who  numbered  three  thousand  fighting 


FOURTH    P  E  R  S  E  C  L'  T I  0  N .  267 

men,  and  whose  strength  was  daily  increased  by  the  acces- 
sion of  foreign  brethren,  though  they  prayed  for  peace, 
were  quite  ready  to  resist  the  foe  with  vigour.  In  the  few 
casual  skirmishes  to  which  reference  has  just  been  made, 
they  were  victorious ;  and  they  daily  occupied  themselves 
in  the  organization  of  plans  for  the  campaign,  which  were 
as  regularly  communicated  to  the  commandant  of  La 
Torre,  by  a  French  spy,  named  Desmoulin,  who  had  got 
among  them  in  the  character  of  a  Dauphincse  refugee. 
The  chiefs  and  the  pastors  adopted  at  the  same  time,  a 
series  of  regulations  which  had  been  drawn  up  for  that  pur- 
pose by  Gianavel,  ever  watchful  and  earnest  in  his  retreat, 
and  of  which  the  first  clause  presents  a  not  uninteresting 
illustration  : — 

"  Since  the  war  that  is  raised  up  against  us  is  an  effect 
of  the  hatred  against  our  religion,  and  that  our  sins  are 
the  cause  of  that  hatred,  it  behooves  ever}^  one  of  us  to 
repent  and  to  amend  his  life ;  to  Avhich  end,  it  is  expedient 
that  the  officers  shall  have  good  books  to  read  to  the  men 
in  the  guardhouses,  and  have  prayers  celebrated  every 
morning  and  evcnino;." 

Meantime,  the  Swiss  envoys,  having  failed  to  effect  an 
audience  of  the  duke,  drew  up  a  memorial,  in  which,  after 
reciting  the  edicts  by  which  liberty  of  conscience  and 
other  rights  had  been  guaranteed  to  the  Waldenses,  they 
represented  that  fidelity  to  treaties  constitutes  the  stability 
of  states,  and  their  repose;  that  if  the  word  of  princes 
Avere  not  held  sacred,  protestant  powers  might  treat  their 
catholic  subjects  as  he  proposed  to  treat  his  protestant 
subjects  ;  and  that  his  own  glory,  his  own  character,  his  hu- 
manity, justice,  the  prosperity  of  Piedmont,  were  all  inter- 
ested  in  his  not  becoming  the  executioner  of  a  faithful 


268  THE   WALDENSES. 

people,  of  whom  he  was  the  natural  protector,  and  whom 
he  had  promised  to  treat  as  a  father. 

The  marquis  di  San  Tommaso,  who  was  entrusted  with 
the  charge  of  replying  to  this  memorial,  sought  to  throw 
the  whole  blame  upon  the  Waldenses,  as  having  taken  up 
arms  against  their  lawful  sovereign.  The  ambassador 
pointed  out  that  it  was  the  duke  who  had  taken  up 
arms  against  the  Waldenses,  not  only  without  cause  on 
their  part,  but  avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing 
their  religion.  "Potent  engagements  wdth  France,"  re- 
joined the  minister,  incautiously,  "  have  dictated  our  con- 
duct."— "If  that  be  so,"  at  once  returned  the  envoys, 
"  you  cannot  say  the  Waldenses  are  to  blame,  and  should 
cease  to  persecute  them." — "Matters  have  gone  too  far, 
said  the  marquis ;  "  but  if  the  Waldenses,  to  save  appear- 
ances, will  outwardly  conform  to  the  edict  of  the  31st 
January,  things  may,  perhaps,  be  arranged." 

This  proposition  was  altogether  too  vague  to  be  accepted, 
and  the  envoys  accordingly  rejected  it.  They  offered, 
however,  to  go  the  valleys,  and  see  what  could  be  done, 
and  a  safe  conduct  was  accordingly  given  to  them  ;  their 
interposition  being  all  the  more  heeded,  that  at  this  junc- 
ture, Brandenburg,  Holland,  and  England,  had  also  ad- 
dressed fresh  representations  to  Victor  Amadeus,  in  favour 
of  his  protestant  subjects. 

The  Swiss  envoys  reached  the  valleys  on  22d  March, 
and  immediately  invited  the  attendance  of  deputies  from 
all  the  Waldensian  communes,  to  consult  with  them.  The 
meeting  took  place  at  Chiasso,  on  23d  March.  The  Swiss 
envoys  having  stated  what  they  had  done  since  their  arrival 
at  Turin,  and  being  requested  by  the  Waldenses  to  counsel 
them  in  this  emergency,  suggested  that  the  best  course 
would  be  to  obtain  leave  to  sell  all  they  had,  and  quit,  in 


FOURTH    P  E  R  S  E  C  U  T  I  0  X .  OQQ 

a  boJy,  a  country  whose  sovereign  had  manifestly  resolved 
that  they  should  not  dwell  there  in  peace  and  in  liberty  of 
conscience.  "Your  valleys,"  said  the  envoys,  "are 
hemmed  in  by  the  states  of  your  enemies ;  all  the  paths 
to  it  arc  guarded  ;  there  is  no  nation  in  a  position  to  wage 
war  with  France,  solely  in  your  behalf;  no  succours  can 
reach  you  ;  and  you  yourselves  have  at  the  most,  three  thou- 
sand fighting  men ;  you  have  more  than  twelve  thousand 
mouths  to  feed ;  your  supplies  are  cut  off,  and  your  every 
step  is  watched  ;  an  overpowering  force  awaits  but  the  signal 
to  massacre  you.  IIow  can  you  resist  ?  Rather,  wc  im- 
plore you,  transport  elsewhere  the  torch  of  the  gospel,  of 
which  you  are  the  depositories,  than  to  keep  it  lierc  to  be 
extinguished  in  blood." 

The  Waldenses,  who  had  expected  other  counsels,  who 
were  prepared  for  strife,  and  hoped  for  victory,  replied 
that  they  could  not  consent,  on  behalf  of  their  country- 
men, to  expatriate  themselves  without  a  struggle ;  and 
that,  at  all  events,  so  grave  a  position  must  be  decided  by 
the  whole  population. 

The  Swiss  deputies,  unable  to  wait  for  this  decision, 
returned  to  Turin,  whence  they  despatched  their  secretary 
to  receive  the  reply  of  the  aggregate  Waldenses.  On  the 
arrival  of  this  functionary  in  the  valleys  (28th  March),  he 
found  the  population  in  a  state  of  the  greatest  agitation. 
Even  those  who  were  willin";  to  emigrate  were  fearful  that 
the  proposal  to  give  them  free  egress  from  the  valleys  was 
merely  a  snare,  so  that  while  journeying  forth,  in  isolated 
groups,  they  might  be  assailed  and  slain  by  the  enemy. 
Most  of  the  pastors  were,  from  the  outset,  in  favour  of 
submission ;  the  mass  of  the  people,  were,  at  first,  for  re- 
sistance ;  but,  after  awhile,  the  communes  of  Perosa,  San 
Martin,  Prarustin,  Roccapiatta,  Rora,  Villar,  and  La 
23* 


270  THE    WALDENSES. 

Torre,  consented  to  submit ;  the  communes  of  Bobbi,  San 
Giovanni,  and  Angrogna,  -witri  a  portion  of  La  Torre,  ad- 
hering to  resistance.  In  the  hope  of  turning  this  division 
to  advantage,  the  enemies  of  the  Waldenses  induced  Victor 
Amadeus  to  sign  (9th  April)  an  edict,  which  treated  the 
emigration  of  the  Waldenses  as  an  affair  quite  settled  and 
agreed  upon.  When  this  edict,  ho\yever,  was  published 
(11th  April)  in  the  valleys,  it  agumented  the  excitement 
which  already  prevailed  there ;  and  three  days  afterwards, 
at  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  all  the  communes,  at 
Roccapiatta,  it  was  resolved,  that,  the  conditions  imposed 
by  this  edict  being  wholly  inadmissible,  all  idea  of  sub- 
mission should  be  abandoned,  and  that  the  Waldenses, 
acting  as  one  man,  should  resist  to  the  last  gasp,  and,  re- 
lying upon  the  aid  of  Providence,  defend  their  hearths  and 
altars,  as  their  fathers  had  done  before  them. 

Thus  the  measure  which  had  been  designed  to  separate 
them  had  the  effect  of  uniting  them  more  compactly  than 
ever. 

On  the  17th  April,  being  Good  Friday,  the  solemn  cov- 
enant was  confirmed  by  another  meeting  of  delegates  at 
Roccapiatta ;  and  on  Easter  Sunday  the  holy  communion 
was  received  by  all  the  sons  of  the  valleys,  heroic  disci- 
ples of  the  gospel,  and  resolute  to  defend  it  and  themselves 
against  vile  oppressors. 

It  was  the  last  communion  they  were  to  partake  of  be- 
fore the  terrible  castastrophe  we  are  about  to  narrate,  and 
which  for  awhile  effected  the  total  dispersion  of  this  people. 


Ctiiijitrt  Cmriitij-fiftli. 


MASSACRES   ANT)    EXPATRIATION. 

The  generous  Swiss  ambassadors,  finding  that  their  me- 
diation between  the  two  parties  was  useless,  resolved  to 
leave  Piedmont.  But  foreseeing  the  inevitable  and  ap- 
proaching destruction  of  that  Waldensian  church,  which 
Avas  so  dear  to  them,  they  wrote  to  Frederic  William,  grand 
elector  of  Brandenberg,  to  beg  him  to  receive  into  any 
vacant  territory  within  his  states,  a  colony  of  Waldenses, 
if  they  should  be  expelled  from  their  native  country.  The 
elector  graciously  replied  that  he  would  give  them  an 
asylum  at  all  risks. 

Already  the  combined  forces  of  France  and  Piedmont 
were  approaching  the  Waldensian  valleys.  Victor  Amad- 
eus  II.  reviewed  his  troops  in  the  plain  of  San  Segonzo. 
His  army  consisted  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  an-l 
eighty-six  men  of  the  regiments  of  Mondovi,  Barges,  and 
Bagnolo ;  a  corps  of  Piedmontese  infantry,  and  a  regi- 
ment of  horse ;  while  the  French  auxiliaries  were  several 
regiments  of  dragoons  and  other  calvary;  seven  or  eight 
battalions  of  infantry  from  Dauphiny  ;  and  a  portion  of 
the  garrisons  of  Pignerol  and  Cassale.  The  signal  of 
carnage  was  to  be  given  on  Easter  Monday,  22d  April, 
by  three  cannon-shots,  fired  at  dawn  of  day,  from  the  hill 
of  Bricherasio,  when   a  general  attack  on  the  two  valleys 

(271) 


272  THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  . 

vras  forthwith  to  take  place ;  the  duke  of  Savoy  assailing 
that  of  Luzerna,  and  Catinat,  general-in-chief  of  the  French 
auxiliaries,  that  of  St.  Martin.  The  latter  general 
quitted  Pignerol  in  the  night  of  Easter  Sunday,  and,  after 
marching  two  hours  by  torch-light,  reached  the  village  of 
St.  German  as  day  was  dawning.  Catinat  immediately 
sent  forward  a  detachment  of  infantry  under  the  command 
of  lieutenant-colonel  Villevielle,  who  took  possession  of 
the  town,  and  drove  the  Waldenses  from  their  first  en- 
trenchments ;  but  presently  the  Waldenses,  turning  about, 
repulsed  the  aggressors.  Catinat  hereupon  sent  a  detach- 
ment of  horse  to  sustain  his  infantry;  the  fighting  extended 
along  the  whole  line,  and  lasted  for  ten  consecutive  hours. 
The  French  infantry  grew  weary,  and  the  calvary  could 
not  operate  with  any  effect  on  slopes  covered  with  brush- 
wood, and  so  pertinaciously  defended  by  the  moun- 
taineers ;  and  at  length  the  latter,  finding  the  fire  of  the 
enemy  slacken,  made,  all  at  once,  a  sortie  so  impetuous 
that  the  French  surprised  and  driven  in,  turned,  fled 
and  were  chased  out  of  the  territory  to  the  left  bank  of 
the  Clusone.  More  than  five  hundred  of  the  enemy  were 
killed  or  wounded  in  this  engagement,  while  the  Walden- 
ses  lost  only  two  men.  Villevielle  himself,  with  thirty 
men,  made  his  way  to  the  protestant  church  St.  German, 
where  he  gallantly  defended  himself  till  the  evening, 
against  a  series  of  energetic  attacks,  directed  by  Henry 
Arnaud,  who,  at  first  a  Dauphinese  pastor,  had  emigrated 
to  the  valleys  from  the  tyranny  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  was, 
at  this  juncture,  at  once  a  pastor  and  a  captain  of  the 
Waldenses.  At  night,  a  detachment  of  troops  from  Pig- 
nerol rescued  the  gallant  French  officer  from  his  perilous 
position. 

Meanwhile,  Catinat  had  marched  to  Perosa.     There  he 


MASSACRES  AND    EXPATRIATION.  073 

distributed  his  forces  into  two  divisions  ;  the  first  of  which, 
under   the   command  of  Mclac,  penetrating  the  valley  of 
Pragela,  by  Salvage,  turned  the  heights  of  Tomaret,  while 
the  second,  led  by  Catinat  himself,  was   directed  towards 
Les   Clots.     The   next  day,    23d  of   April,    this   general 
attacked  Rioclaret,  opposite  the  position  he  had  thus  taken. 
All   the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  St.    Martin  had 
declared,  four  days  before,  that  they  were  willing  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  edict  of  the  0th  of  April,  and   to  lay 
down   their   arms.     But  Victor    Amadeus   was  not  made 
acquainted  with  their  resolution  till  the  evening  before  the 
battle  ;  he  then  refused  to  accept  it,  declaring  it  came  too 
late.     His    troops  were  already  in  possession  of  the  ap- 
proaches  to  the  valleys ;    the  envoy  sent  by  that  of  St. 
Martin  could  not  return  thither.     The  inhabitants  of  this 
district  were  ignorant  of  the  duke's  answer ;  they  trusted 
to  the  articles  of  the  edict,  and,  not  expecting  an  attack, 
they  had  made  no  preparations  for  defending  themselves. 
The  army  of  Catinat  surprised  them,  thus  unprepared,  cut 
them  to  pieces,  and  spread  themselves  over  the  valley,  kill- 
ing, burning,  pillaging.     Six  families,  who  were  made  pris- 
oners, and  were  sent  to  Perosa,  were  basely  massacred  on 
their  arrival  there.     Two  young  girls  of  Villa-Secca  were 
slain  in  their  resistance  to  the  outrages  of  the  soldiers  :  the 
latter  glutted  on  their  dead  bodies  the  brutality  of  which  they 
had  not  been  able  to  render  them  the  victims  while  living. 

Giovanni  Ribeto,  of  Macel,  had  his  limbs  burned  ofiF  in 
succession,  as  he  successively  refused  the  injunctions  to 
abjure  which  were  made  to  him  in  the  intervals  of  his  tor- 
tures. 

At  the  hamlet  of  Fontane,  near  Rodoret,  four  women 
were  seized  as  they  were  fleeing  with  their  infants ;  the 
hapless  babes  were  dashed  ruthlessly  to  the  ground,  and 


274  THE    AVALDENSES. 

the  still  more  hapless  mothers  outraged  till  they  died  on 
the  dead  bodies  of  their  children. 

In  all  directions  the  horrors  of  1655  were  renewed, 
with  even  aggravated  atrocities.  Husbandmen  were  fast- 
ened to  the  end  of  the  ploughshare,  and  dug  into  the  earth 
thej  were  tilling.  Others  were  hurled  from  precipices 
upon  the  rugged  points  below;  others  torn  in  pieces  by 
horses ;  others  tortured  to  death  by  mutilations  too  mon- 
strous to  be  described. 

After  having  thus  devastated  the  valley  of  St.  Martin, 
Catinat  left  a  few  troops  there,  and  marched  on  to  Pramol. 

Melac,  who  joined  him  there,  had  perpetrated  at  Pom- 
aret  horrors  of  the  same  atrocious  character ;  and  on  his 
way  he  had  absolutely,  at  the  pike's  point,  compelled  the 
outraged  Waldensian  women  and  girls,  whom  he  had  taken 
prisoners,  to  march  naked,  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  in 
order  to  guide  them  on  their  way. 

The  combined  forces  of  Melac  and  Catinat  encamped  on 
the  basin  of  Pramol,  at  the  hamlet  of  La  Rua,  over-against 
that  of  Pemiano.  The  latter  was  occupied  by  fifteen  hun- 
dred Waldenses,  the  inhabitants  of  the  locality,  augmented 
by  the  men  of  St.  German,  who  had  so  valiantly  resisted 
the  first  attack  of  the  enemy ;  so  that  the  protestants  were 
in  a  condition  once  more  to  resist,  and,  perhaps,  once  more 
effectually.  Seeing  this,  the  enemy  recurred  to  treachery, 
a  weapon  at  which  the  papists  are  peculiarly  expert ;  and 
Catinat  sent  word  to  the  Waldenses  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  valley  of  Luzerna  had  laid  down  their  arms,  had 
waited  on  Victor  Amadeus,  and  had  been  received  by  him 
into  his  full  grace,  which  he  Avas  equally  ready  to  accord 
to  all  his  Waldensian  subjects  who  would  take  the  same 
course.  The  Waldenses,  hereupon,  sent  two  envoys  to  the 
French  general,  to  receive  from  his  own  mouth  the  con- 


MASSACRES   AND    E  X  P  A  T  RI  AT  10  X.  075 

firmatlon  of  this  news  and  of  this  promise.  Soldierly 
honour  revolted  not  in  the  breast  of  this  soldier  against  a 
deliberate  lie:  "Lay  down  your  arms,"  he  said,  "and  all 
is  pardoned." 

The  Waldenses,  true  themselves,  believed  in  the  truth 
of  others:  they  laid  down  their  arms,  and  received  the 
French  regiment,  who  the  next  morning  entered  Pemiano, 
without  distrust.  The  officer  in  command  of  the  regiment, 
captain  St.  Pierre,  then  assembled  the  men  of  the  place, 
informed  them  that  the  duke  had  been  informed  of  their 
submission,  and  was  waiting  to  receive  them  graciously. 
They  at  once  departed,  under  escort,  to  receive  from  their 
sovereign  the  promised  grace,  and,  the  defenders  thus 
removed,  and  none  of  the  Waldenses  being  left  in  the  place 
but  women,  children,  and  aged  people,  the  soldiers  of 
Catinat  rushed  like  wild  beasts  upon  this  inoffensive  multi- 
tude, massacreing  some,  torturing  others,  despoiling  all ; 
and  as  to  the  women  and  young  girls,  subjecting  them  to 
atrocities  so  brutal,  that  the  pen  refuses  to  describe  them. 
The  children  were  taken  away,  and  distributed  among  the 
monasteries  and  convents  of  Piedmont,  or  with  popish 
families.  Their  fathers,  who  had  gone  to  the  camp  of 
Victor  Amadeus  to  make  their  submission,  were  cast  into 
the  dungeons  of  Luzerna,  Cavour,  and  Villafranca,  where 
many  of  them  died  of  privation,  grief  and  sickness. 

But  popery  was  triumphant :  treason  had  served  it ; 
half  the  population  of  the  valleys  was  massacred  or  im- 
prisoned ;  carnage  had  done  its  work  ;  and  what  remained 
of  the  Israel  of  the  Alps  was  destined  to  be  of  short  dura- 
tion. The  Te  Deums  of  St.  Bartholomew  were  soon  to  be 
heard  once  again. 

Victor  Amadeus  had  remained  in  the  plain  which  forms 
the  entrance  to  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  towards  La  Torre 


276  THE     AVALDEXSES. 

and  Rora.  It  was  there,  at  a  later  period,  after  the 
wonderful  return  of  the  Waldenses  to  their  country,  that 
this  prince,  vanquished  and  a  fugitive  in  his  turn,  came  to 
seek  an  asylum  among  the  same  mountaineers  whom  now 
he  was  using  his  utmost  efforts  to  destroy  or  exile. 

His  uncle,  Gabriel  of  Savoy,  advanced  towards  the 
heights  of  Angrogna.  His  line  of  operations  extended 
from  Bricherasio  to  San  Giovanni,  while  the  Waldenses 
occupied,  on  the  summit  of  the  hills  of  Le  Cotiere,  a  series 
of  posts  above  and  parallel  with  them.  On  the  22d  of 
April,  Don  Gabriel  made  a  simultaneous  attack  on  these 
posts,  from  all  sides.  The  Waldenses  fought  the  whole 
day.  On  the  approach  of  night,  the  bivouac  fires  were 
lighted  on  both  sides.  This  girdle  of  fire  environed  the 
mountain  at  about  a  third  of  its  height.  Serres  and  Cas- 
telluzzo  belonged  to  the  enemy,  Roccamanante  and  Le  Porte 
d'Angrogna  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Waldenses. 

On  the  23d  of  April  the  battle  was  resumed.  The  Wal- 
denses retired  towards  the  crest  of  the  mountain,  in  good 
order,  and  fighting  incessantly  the  whole  day.  Towards 
the  evening  they  encamped  all  together,  at  the  foot  of  La 
Vachera,  and  fortified  their  position  with  entrenchments 
of  rocks  and  earth.  Next  morning,  Gabriel  of  Savoy  was 
informed  of  the  surrender  of  the  Waldenses  of  Pramol,  who 
had  trusted  themselves  into  the  hands  of  their  foes,  and 
whose  defenceless  families  had  been  massacred. 

He  immediately  resolved  to  employ  the  same  means 
against  his  opponents,  and  sent  word  to  them  that  their 
co-religionists  of  the  valley  of  St.  Martin  having  laid 
down  their  arms  and  obtained  grace,  he  advised  them  to 
follow  this  example,  to  avoid  greater  evils ;  for  if  they  did 
not  surrender,  the  French  troops,  who  were  in  possession 
of  the  valley  of  St.  Martin,  and  that  of  Pramol,  would 


MAS  ACRES    AND    EXPATRIATION.  277 

take  them  in    the  rear,   and    they  would   be    inevitably 
crushed. 

The  Waldenses  of  the  valley  of  Luzcrna,  entrenched  at 
the  foot  of  La  Vachera,  "were  amazed  at  this  intelligence, 
and,  in  their  turn,  sent  envoys  to  Gabriel  of  Savoy,  who 
confirmed  the  news,  and  sent  them  back  a  despatch,  signed 
by  himself,  which  ran  thus : — "  Do  not  hesitate  to  lay 
down  your  arms ;  be  assured  that,  in  submitting  yourselves 
to  the  clemency  of  his  royal  highness,  he  will  receive  you 
favourably,  and  that  he  will  not  injure  your  persons,  nor 
those  of  your  wives  and  children." 

A  promise  so  formal,  and  signed  by  a  royal  hand,  it 
seemed  unreasonable  to  doubt ;  but  the  Waldenses  should 
have  borne  in  mind  that  the  hand  so  signing  was  also  a 
popish  hand,  taught  to  trace,  Avithout  a  shudder,  whatever 
atrocities  a  priest  might  dictate. 

The  Waldenses,  however,  put  faith  in  Don  Gabriel,  and, 
that  very  evening,  opening  their  entrenchments  to  him, 
placed  themselves,  without  arms  and  without  distrust, 
amidst  his  troops.  The  latter  immediately,  under  pretext 
of  friendly  conversation,  got  around  them,  then  seized 
them,  and,  binding  them  like  criminals,  dragged  them  to 
Luzerna,  where  they  were  thrown  into  the  dungeons, 
already  half  filled  with  betrayed  Waldenses. 

Thus,  almost  without  striking  a  bloAV,  the  enemy  gained 
possession  of  these  formidable  valleys,  where  the  Walden- 
ses had  posts  so  advantageous,  and  entrenchments  so 
strong,  that,  as  a  popish  writer  of  the  time  admits,  they 
might  have  maintained  themselves  there  for  ten  years. 
But  treachery  had  immured  the  male  defenders  of  this 
sanctuary  and  of  the  gospel  in  the  dungeons  of  popedom, 
and  imprisoned  their  children  in  its  monasteries  and  its 
nunneries  ;  their  outraged  wives  and  daughters,  their  help- 
24 


278  THE    WALDENSES. 

less  parents,  were  massacred ;  their  houses  were  despoiled 
and  burned,  their  fields  devastated. 

In  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  Victor  Amadeus  hiojself 
attacked  two  posts  of  Waldenses,  who  were  covering  the 
entrance  to  Pra-del-Tor  and  the  road  to  Villar.  The  fight 
continuing  till  evening,  without  any  result,  the  same  strata- 
gem was  resorted  to  by  the  papists  which  had  succeeded 
so  well  at  La  Vachera  and  Pemiano :  upon  the  solemn 
assurance  of  the  Piedmontese  chiefs  that  the  duke,  who 
was  at  hand,  would  receive  them  into  favour,  on  their  lay- 
ing down  their  arms,  "  as  he  had  already  received  into 
favour  their  brethren  of  Angrogna  and  La  Vachera," 
many  of  the  Waldenses  surrendered,  and  were  at  once 
sent  to  join  their  brethren  in  the  dungeons  of  the  duke  ; 
while  those  who  would  not  surrender,  finding  their  num- 
bers so  fearfully  reduced  by  stratagem  or  surprise,  aban- 
doned their  posts,  and  withdrew  to  Bobbi,  the  last  village 
of  any  importance  in  the  valley  that  remained  to  the  pro- 
testants.  Here,  after  repulsing  several  separate  attacks, 
they  were  surrounded,  on  the  loth  of  May,  by  the  entire 
army  of  Victor  Amadeus  and  his  French  allies,  and,  find- 
in  "•  themselves  unable  to  withstand  this  immense  force, 
they  cut  their  way  through  the  enemy's  lines,  and  dispersed 
amid  the  depths  of  La  Sarcena  and  Garino.  The  popish 
troopers  then  proceeded  to  the  work,  in  which  they  were 
so  skilled,  of  massacre,  outrage,  spoliation,  and  incen- 
<liarism.  Two  sisters,  Anna  and  Madalena  Vittoria,  after 
underg-oino-  indescribable  brutalities,  were  burned  alive  in 
the  shed  Avhich  had  been  the  scene  of  their  dishonour. 
Daniel  Pellenc  was  flayed  alive,  and  then,  a  huge  stone 
being  laid  upon  his  prostrate  and  palpitating  body,  was 
left  to  die  in  agony.  One  poor  woman,  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  a  cavern,  Avhere  a  goat,  supplied  her  with  the 


MASSACRES   AND   EXPATRIATIOX.  079 

nourishment  which  she,  in  her  turn,  communicated  to  her 
baby,  was  surprised  by  the  soldiers  ;  the  infant  was  thrown 
down  the  abyss,  on  the  rocks  below  ;  the  mother  was 
dragged  before  the  marquis  de  Benil,  colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment of  Savoy,  and  interrogated  as  to  the  place  where  her 
co-religionists  had  retired.  She  would  give  no  answer. 
To  make  her  speak,  the  soldiers  crushed  her  fingers  between 
iron  bars  ;  this  producing  no  efiect,  the  heroic  defenders 
of  the  Roman  catholic  faith  broke  her  legs,  and,  having 
violently  tied  her  heels  to  her  neck,  rolled  her  down  into 
the  gulf  where  they  had  just  before  cast  her  infant.  Daniel 
Mondon,  one  of  the  elders  of  Rora,  was  compelled  to  wit- 
ness the  decapitation  of  his  two  sons,  the  eventeration  of 
his  daughter-in-law,  and  the  massacre  of  her  four  children  ; 
he  was  then  driven  at  the  pike's  point,  his  sons'  heads  and 
the  bleeding  remains  of  his  daughter-in-law  being  sus- 
pended round  his  neck,  to  Luzerna,  where  he  was  hanged. 

"  All  the  valleys  are  wasted,  all  the  inhabitants  killed, 
hanged,  or  massacred."  So  wrote,  on  the  2Gth  of  May, 
1686,  a  French  officer  in  the  ai'.my  of  Catinat ;  and  the 
destruction  of  the  Waldensian  churches  seemed,  indeed,  at 
length  accomplished.  More  than  one  thousand  persons 
had  been  massacred,  more  than  six  thousand  lay  in  prison, 
and  two  thousand  children,  torn  from  their  parents,  were 
immured  in  various  popish  establishments.  All  the  Wal- 
denses,  dead  or  alive,  had  been  declared  guilty  of  high 
treason,  and  their  property,  of  whatever  description,  con- 
fiscated to  the  state.  Nothing  seemed  to  remain  for  the 
valleys  but  the  silence  of  death  and  desolation. 

It  was  from  this  very  desperation  of  circumstances  that 
the  remnant  of  the  Waldenses  derived  fresh  courage.  No 
sooner  had  their  most  formidable  enemies — the  French 
troops  and  the  militia  of  Mondovi — withdrawn  altogether, 


280  THE    WALDENSES. 

and  the  Piedmontese  army  partially,  than,  from  the  depths 
of  the  woods  and  ravines,  and  from  the  heights  of  the 
craggiest  rocks,  there  crept  forth  men  worn  with  fatigue 
and  privation,  but  resolute  in  their  faith  and  in  their 
patriotism,  who,  by  degrees  collecting  together  on  Mont 
Beces,  numbered  in  all  eighty  men,  with  whom  were  a  few 
women  and  some  children.  We  know  not  the  names,  nor 
the  leader,  of  this  small  band,  destined,  by  their  heroic 
valour,  to  emancipate  from  prison  their  betrayed  country- 
men, to  recover  their  confiscated  property,  and  to  obtain 
for  them  and  for  themselves,  an  honourable  retreat,  with 
bago-ao-e  and  arms,  to  a  foreign  land. 

Animated  with  the  spirit  of  Gianavel,  and  aided  by  the 
hand  of  God,  these  last  defenders  of  the  valleys  fell  like 
a  thunderbolt  on  the  persecutors,  who  supposed  them  all 
exterminated,  defeated  successively  the  garrisons  of  Vil- 
lar,  La  Torre,  Luzerna,  and  San  Segonzo,  seized  a  large 
convoy  of  ammunition  and  provisions  on  its  way  to  Pignerol, 
and  then,  returning  to  the  mountains,  multiplied  their 
numbers  by  their  activity,  their  strength  by  their  valour, 
their  power  by  the  fear  they  inspired,  and  their  chances  of 
safety  by  the  incessant  losses  to  which  they  subjected  the 
enemy. 

Unforeseen  in  attack,  unattainable  in  retreat,  they  would 
fall  suddenly  on  some  heedless  post,  some  sleeping  canton- 
ment, fire  the  buildings  or  the  tents,  slay  numbers  of  the 
enemy,  and  then  retreat,  ere  the  survivors  had  time  even 
to  look  at  their  assailants ;  or,  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
they  would  assail  some  village  in  the  plain,  set  fire  to  the 
outskirts,  and  menace  the  entire  conflagration  of  the  place, 
unless  a  heavy  ransom  was  paid.  The  marquis  de  Parelles 
and  Gabriel  of  Savoy  marched  against  these  desperate 
guerrillas,  but  to  no  purpose,  and,  after  having  undergone 
two  defeats,  the  Piedmontese  generals  ofi'ered  to  the  Wal- 


MASSACRES    AND    EXPATRIATION.  Og^ 

denscs  free  egress  to  any  foreign  country  they  might  select, 
if  they  Avould  consent  to  retire.  The  offer  was  accepted  ; 
but  only  on  condition  that  all  the  Waldenscs  Avho  Avcre  de- 
tained in  prison  should  be  released,  and  included  in  the 
concession.  Further,  these  hardy  mountaineers  stipulated 
that,  in  their  retreat  to  a  foreign  land,  each  division  of 
exiles  should  be  accompanied  by  an  officer  of  the  royal 
guard,  by  way  of  hostage  ;  and,  moreover,  that,  to  the 
frontiers  of  Savoy,  the  cost  of  journey  should  be  defrayed 
by  Victor  Amadous.  After  some  hesitation  these  terms 
were  accorded  :  it  was  agreed  that  the  prisoners  should  be 
released,  and  have  free  egress  from  the  country,  and  it  was 
further  conceded  that  all  the  Waldenses  should  be  at  liber- 
ty to  dispose  of  their  goods.  But  as  to  these  goods,  the 
far  greater  portion  had  been  a  prey  to  pillage  and  incendi- 
arism ;  and  as  to  the  prisoners,  so  many  of  them  had  died 
under  their  sufferings  in  the  popish  dungeons,  that,  alto- 
gether, of  the  fifteen  thousand  Waldenses  who  constituted 
the  protestant  population  of  the  valleys  but  a  few  months 
before,  only  two  thousand  six  hundred  remained  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  liberty  of  exile  now  granted  to  them. 

Arrangements  having  been  meanwhile  made  Avith  the 
Swiss  protestant  cantons  for  the  reception  of  the  exiles 
within  their  territory,  the  first  two  detachments,  consisting 
of  the  men  whose  valour  had  procured  from  the  court  of 
Savoy  the  concession  upon  which  they  were  acting,  arrived 
at  Geneva,  on  the  25th  of  November,  1686,  in  number 
eifhty  persons,  men,  women  and  children.  On  the  3d  of 
December,  the  Waldensian  prisoners  at  Turin  were  releas- 
ed, and  despatched  on  their  way  to  Switzerland  ;  and  on 
the  3d  of  January,  1687,  they  were  followed  by  the  re- 
mainder of  their  countrymen. 

The  numerous  Waldenses  whom  persecution  in  their  dun- 
geons had  induced   to  catholicize,  were  not  permitted  to 

24* 


282  THE   WALDENSES. 

return  to  their  valleys,  but  detained  in  prison  for  some 
days  after  the  departure  of  their  countrymen,  that  they 
might  not  join  them  in  their  exile.  They  were  then  deported 
to  the  marshy  plains  of  Vercelli,  where  they  were  ordered 
to  remain,  under  penalty  of  ten  years'  labor  in  the  galleys, 
and  where  great  numbers  of  them  speedily  died  of  typhus 
fever.  Any  of  them  who  should  presume  to  set  foot  in 
the  valleys  was  to  be  punished  with  death. 

The  total  number  of  Waldenses,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, who  reached  Geneva — for  hundreds  died  of  the  eifects 
^  of  their  ill-treatment  in  prison,  of  cold  and  hunger,  on 
their  way — was  two  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six. 
Their  reception  was  most  generous  ;  one-half  of  the  popu- 
lation of  Geneva,  headed  by  the  patriot  Gianavel,  came 
to  meet  them  at  the  Arve,  the  confine-river  of  their  sub- 
lime territory,  and  there  competed  with  each  other  who 
should  receive,  within  his  hospitable  dwelling,  the  greatest 
number  of  the  exiles.  Of  the  third  band  of  Waldenses, 
one  party,  in  especial,  aroused  the  interest,  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  Genevese — a  patriarchal  barba,  ninety-six  years 
old,  who,  heading  a  tribe  of  seventy-two  children  and 
grandchildren,  revived  the  imposing  image  of  those  bibli- 
cal migrations,  which  the  constant  study  of  the  Bible  had 
rendered  so  familiar  to  protestants. 

The  numbers  thus  arriving  at  Geneva  could  not,  of 
course,  be  all  entertained  in  that  city ;  some  were  dis- 
tributed among  the  other  protestant  communities  of  Swit- 
zerland, some  were  conveyed  to  Brandenberg,  some  to 
Holland,  and  thence  to  America ;  but  all  who  had  the 
choice  remained  in  Geneva,  to  be  near  those  beloved  val- 
leys, which  all  cherished  the  hope  and  expectation  one  day 
to  recover. 


(Ctjiipttr  (Bmriitij-iiixtlj. 


THE    GLORIOUS     RETURN     OF     THE     AV  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S 
UNDER    ARNAUD. 


The  Waldenses,  such  of  them,  at  least,  as  were  not  still 
retained  in  prison,  among  Avhom  were  all  the  ministers, 
having  quitted  the  valleys,  it  became  a  question  how  these 
valleys  should  be  re-peopled.  It  was  at  first  proposed  to 
settle  on  them  the  Irish  exiles,  who  were  leadino;  a  vagrant 
life  in  Montferrat,  but  there  was  more  than  one  objection 
to  this  plan ;  first,  the  idleness  of  these  islanders,  by  whose 
neglect  these  districts,  once  so  flourishing,  would  soon  be- 
come barren  and  waste ;  secondly,  the  superior  advantage 
of  selling  the  lands.  It  was  determined,  therefore,  that 
they  should  be  put  up  to  auction,  and  that  what  remained 
unsold  should  be  let.  The  richest  properties  were  added 
to  the  private  domain  of  Victor  Amadeus  ;  and  others 
given  to  his  officers.  Many  catholicized  Waldenses  were 
permitted  to  remain  for  a  few  months  on  their  lands  ;  but 
ultimately  the  sale  of  the  confiscated  property  began  on 
the  loth  July,  1689.  Some  were  purchased  by  individu- 
als, but  most  by  companies  formed  for  the  speculation  at 
Susa,  Chambery,  Saluzzo,  and  other  places.  The  whole 
territory  of  Angrogna  was  sold  in  one  lot ;  that  of  Bobbi 
was  bought  by  bidders  from  Susa,  for  forty-four  thousand 

(283) 


284  THEWALDENSES. 

francs ;  that  of  Villar,  by  a  company  of  ten  persons  at 
Saluzzo.  Generally  speaking,  the  preference  was  given  to 
Savoyards,  who,  coming  from  a  mountainous  and  over- 
peopled country,  presented,  in  both  circumstances,  greater 
probabilities  of  their  introducing  competent  labourers,  and 
plenty  of  them,  into  the  country.  But  the  expectation 
was  by  no  means  realized ;  so  that  when  the  Waldenses 
themselves  returned  home,  they  found  their  valleys  in 
almost  the  same  depopulated  and  devastated  condition  that 
they  had  left  them  in. 

These  Waldenses  themselves,  meanwhile,  repulsed  from 
Wurtemberg  by  the  policy  of  its  rulers,  willing  to  favour 
the  protestants,  yet  still  more  anxious  to  avoid  a  collision 
with  their  persecutors — repulsed  from  the  palatinate  by  the 
dragoons  of  Louvois — repulsed  from  Brandenberg  by  the 
ill-will  of  the  population — wandering  about  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine  and  in  the  mountains  of  Switzerland,  an 
unwilling  burden  upon  their  co-religionists  there, — had 
resolved  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  their  valleys,  not  sim- 
ply as  a  means  of  subsistence,  or  as  satisfaction  of  patri- 
otism, but  as  a  duty  of  conscience.  It  seemed,  indeed, 
under  the  circumstances,  utterly  improbable  that  this  scat- 
tered remnant  should  rally  under  a  leader  of  their  own, 
and  march,  sword  in  hand,  for  the  recovery  of  their  pos- 
sessions ;  but  Henri  Arnaud  thought  otherwise.  Patriotic, 
ardent,  and  enthusiastic,  his  love  for  his  native  valleys 
would  not  suffer  him  to  be  happy  in  a  foreign  land,  his 
courage  would  hear  of  no  obstacles,  and  his  warm  imagi- 
nation represented  the  arm  of  God  as  lifted  up  to  succour 
the  holy  undertaking.  Lux  lucet  in  tcnehris,  "  the  light 
shineth  in  darkness,"  was  the  motto  of  his  community,  and 
the  words  which  were  ever  in  his  mouth.  He  thought  ho 
saw  the  cloud  which  was  to  go  before  him  by  dny,  and  the 


RETURN    OF    THE    WALDEXSES.  035 

pillar  of  fire  ^vliich  Avas  to  give  him  light  by  night,  and  he 
was  incessant  in  his  importunities,  until  he  had  communi- 
cated his  own  martial  spirit  to  a  few  faithful  friends,  and 
had  girt  on  what  he  called  the  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of 
Gideon,  which  he  solemnly  swore  never  to  resign,  until  the 
images  should  be  torn  down  from  the  altars  of  the  thirteen 
sanctuaries,  Avhich,  until  this  fatal  epoch,  had  never  been 
so  idolatrously  decorated.  In  a  short  time  his  little  troop 
was  increased  to  upwards  of  eight  hundred  daring  adven- 
turers, whom  he  had  persuaded  to  join  his  standard,  from 
different  parts  of  Germany  and  Switzerland. 

They  were  obliged  to  meet  in  secret,  and  their  nocturnal 
assemblies  were  held  in  the  dark  retreats  of  a  forest,  which 
then  spread  over  a  long  tract  of  country  betAveen  Nion 
and  Rolle,  and  extended  down  to  the  edge  of  the  lake  of 
Geneva. 

On  the  night  of  Friday,  the  16th  August,  1689,  Arnaud 
had  completed  all  his  preparations;  and,  putting  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  men,  he  seized  some  boats  on  the  coast, 
and  crossed  the  lake.  Yvoire,  in  Savoy,  was  their  place 
of  landing,  and  they  would  have  had  to  encounter  an  en- 
emy at  the  first  village  through  which  they  passed,  if  they 
had  not  wisely  taken  two  persons  of  some  distinction,  as 
hostages  for  their  safe  conduct  through  this  part  of  the 
country.  The  route,  for  the  first  two  or  three  days,  was 
by  passes  to  which  they  were  perfect  strangers,  but  their 
hostages  were  answerable  for  the  fidelity  of  the  guides. 
On  the  second  day,  however,  they  were  nearly  betrayed, 
in  gpite  of  all  their  precautions.  The  inhabitants  of  Clu- 
ses,  on  the  Arve,  at  first  refused  to  give  them  a  passage 
through  the  town,  and  afterwards  despatched  a  messenger 
to  Sallanches,  with  instructions  for  the  people  of  that  city 
to  attack  the  Waldenses  in  the  narrow  defile  of  Maglan, 


286  THE   "WALBENSES. 

while  they  themselves  would  asscail  them  in  the  rear.  Most 
providentially  the  treacherous  scheme  was  discovered  in 
time,  and  no  other  vengeance  was  taken  than  to  carry  off 
two  more  hostages  from  Cluses.  The  tremendous  pass  of 
Maglan,  where  a  few  peasants,  armed  with  stones,  might 
stop  the  progress  of  a  whole  army,  was  cleared  before 
the  troops  of  Sallanches  had  notice  of  this  extraordinary 
march ;  and  though  it  rained  torrents  the  whole  day, 
the  eight  hundred  reached  Cablau  before  they  halted  for 
the  night. 

It  took  them  two  days  only  to  surmount  the  difficulties 
of  the  Montagne  de  Haut  Luce,  and  that  of  the  Bon 
Homme.  The  latter  is  a  chain  of  the  All^e  Blanche,  and 
forms  part  of  the  Graian  Alps.  After  descending  from 
these  snow  covered  heights,  they  followed  the  course  of 
the  mountain  torrent  called  Reclus,  and  penetrated,  through 
a  woody  ravine,  into  the  plain  of  Scez,  where  they  en- 
camped on  the  fourth  evening.  It  was  on  this  day's  march 
that  they  passed  by  the  large  rock  of  Gypsum,  which 
stands  at  the  entrance  of  the  defile  that  leads  to  Scez,  and 
is  Avell  known  as  La  Roche  Blanche,  which  is  supposed  to 
be  the  celebrated  white  rock  on  which  Hannibal  spent  the 
night,  after  the  furious  attack  which  was  made  upon  him 
by  the  barbarians. 

On  the  21st  August,  the  protestant  heroes  traversed  the 
valley  of  the  Isere ;  and  though  they  expected  to  find  this 
one  of  the  most  perilous  of  their  journeys,  yet  they  arrived 
at  Laval  in  safety.  Nothing  can  be  more  fertile,  or  better 
cultivated,  than  this  lovely  valley,  which  presents  some  of 
the  finest  Alpine  scenery  to  the  eye  that  is  to  be  met  with 
in  Savoy :  it  was  not,  therefore,  from  the  difficulty  of  the 
passes,  or  the  scarcity  of  provisions,  that  Arnaud's  troops 
apprehended    interruption  ;  but  from  the  hostility  of  the 


RETURN    OF    THE   AYALDENSES.  037 

inhabitants.  The  population  is  numerous  on  each  side  of 
the  river ;  and  it  was  never  satisfactorily  explained,  why 
the  eight  hundred  wore  permitted,  not  only  to  traverse  the 
valley  of  the  Isere,  but  also  to  cross  Mont  Iscran,  and  the 
still  more  formidable  Mont  Cenis,  without  any  well- 
ordered  attempt  to  stop  their  progress ;  for  by  this  time 
the  object  of  their  march  was  well  known  at  Turin.  A 
few  skirmishes  was  all  they  had  to  encounter ;  and  it 
was  not  before  the  eighth  day  of  their  enterprise  that 
they  first  came  in  conflict  with  any  largo  body  of  regular 
troops. 

To  avoid  the  garrison  of  Susa,  it  was  determined  to  pro- 
ceed along  the  banks  of  the  Dora,  at  the  foot  of  the  Col 
d'Albin,  which  closes  in  upon  the  river,  and  leaves  a  pass, 
which  is  barely  practicable  at  places  even  for  troops  who 
have  no  enemy  in  front.  The  narrowest  part  of  the  defile 
is  near  Salabertrand,  where  a  bridge  is  thrown  over  the 
Dora.  At  this  point  the  Waldenscs  found  their  passage 
disputed  by  twenty-five  hundred  French,  who  summoned 
them  to  surrender  at  discretion.  The  superiority  of  num- 
bers against  them  was  fearfully  great;  the  garrison  at 
Susa  were  prepared  to  act  against  them,  if  they  retreated ; 
and  hemmed  in  by  the  rocks  on  one  side,  and  the  river  on 
the  other,  the  little  band  had  no  alternative  but  to  advance. 

Having  first  reconnoitred,  to  discover  if  there  was  any 
ambuscade,  the  Waldenses  advanced  towards  the  bridge. 
Some  of  the  enemy,  who  were  entrenched  on  the  other  side, 
called  out,  Qui  vive  ?  to  which  the  Waldenses  replied,  very 
sincerely,  Ainis ;  intending  to  remain  so,  if  they  hud 
been  suff'ered  to  pass  without  interruption.  But  the  French 
did  not  desire  to  be  friends  upon  these  terms  ;  and  shouted 
"Kill  them."  A  firing  then  commenced,  which  lasted  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  during  which  more  than  two  thousand 


288  THE    AYALDENSES. 

shots  were  discharged;  but  Arnaud  having  ordered  his 
men  to  lie  flat  upon  their  faces,  there  was  but  one  of  them 
wounded.  A  Savoyard  gentleman,  one  of  the  hostages, 
declared  that  he  had  never  seen  so  terrible  a  firino;  take 
fio  little  effect :  and,  what  was  more  remarkable,  Arnaud, 
Captain  Mondon,  of  Bobbi,  and  two  other  refugees,  were 
not  only  obliged  to  expose  themselves  to  it,  but  held  in 
check  two  companies,  who  attempted  to  charge  the  Wal- 
denses  in  the  rear.  The  Waldenses  finding  themselves 
thus  placed  between  two  fires,  saw  that  no  time  was  to  be 
lost,  and  that  every  thing  would  depend  upon  the  promp- 
titude of  the  moment.  At  this  critical  juncture,  a  voice 
exclaimed,  "  Courage,  the  bridge  is  gained !"  In  an 
instant,  the  men  rose  up,  and  rushed  forward,  some  sword 
in  hand,  and  others  with  bayonets  fixed.  The  bridge  was 
carried  ;  and  with  such  impetuosity  did  the  assailants  ad- 
vance to  force  the  entrenchments,  that  they  were  at  the 
very  muzzles  of  the  guns,  and  cut  many  of  the  enemy  down, 
before  they  could  fire  at  them.  Never  was  so  violent  a 
shock.  The  sabres  of  the  Waldenses  shivered  the  swords 
of  the  French  to  pieces. 

The  victory  was  so  glorious  and  decisive,  that  the  mar- 
quis de  Larrey,  who  commanded  and  was  dangerously 
wounded  in  the  arm,  cried  out,  blaspheming  in  the  usual 
French  style,  "  Is  it  possible  that  I  have  lost  the  battle, 
and  my  own  honour  !"  Seeing  that  there  was  no  remedy, 
he  added,  Sauve  qui  j^^^ut,  and  then  fled,  with  several 
wounded  officers,  to  Brian^on  ;  but  not  considering  himself 
safe  even  there,  he  was  conveyed  in  a  litter,  to  Embrun. 

The  conflict  lasted  two  hours ;  and  the  enemy  were  so 
completely  routed,  that  many  of  them,  finding  themselves 
intermixed  pell-mell  among  the  Waldenses,  hoped  to 
escape  by  being  mistaken  for  them ;  but  they  were  all  put 


RETURN    OF    THE    "WALDENSES.  289 

to  the  sword.  The  field  of  battle  was  covered  with  the 
dead.  Several  companies  were  reduced  to  seven  or  eight 
men,  without  any  officers.  All  the  baggage  and  ammuni- 
tion fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Waldenscs  ;  and  when  the 
moon  rose  that  evening,  not  an  enemy  -was  to  be  seen. 

The  exiles  might  have  re-established  themselves  at  once 
among  the  fastnesses  of  the  valley  of  St,  Martin,  but  these 
brave  men  -were  not  satisfied  with  a  secure  retreat ;  they 
resolved  to  dispossess  the  Roman  catholics,  and  to  restore 
their  brethren  to  their  lands  and  habitations,  or  to  perish 
in  the  attempt.  The  valley  of  Luzerna  was  occupied  in 
great  force  by  French  and  Piedmontese  troops,  a  detach- 
ment of  whom  was  ordered  to  seize  the  passes  of  the  Col 
Julien,  and  to  prevent  Arnaud's  approach  on  that  side  of 
the  valley.  But  nothing  could  check  his  impetuous  attack. 
The  heights  were  carried  with  scarcely  any  loss  on  the 
part  of  the  Waldenses  ;  and  the  enemy  were  pursued  from 
one  summit  to  another,  till  they  retreated  into  the  vale  of 
Bobbi,  and  took  shelter  in  that  village.  Bobbi  was,  at 
this  time,  in  the  hands  of  the  papists,  to  whom  the  confis- 
cated property  of  the  protestants  had  been  assigned.  It 
was  taken  by  storm,  and  pillaged  by  the  exasperated  exiles 
Avho,  upon  this  occasion,  lost  sight  of  the  moderation,  by 
which  they  had  hitherto  been  governed. 

After  these  successes,  the  gallant  patriots  took  an  oath 
of  fidelity  to  each  other,  and  celebrated  divine  service  in 
one  of  their  own  churches,  for  the  first  time  since  their 
banishment.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  moment  was  irrepres- 
sible ;  they  chanted  the  74th  Psalm  to  the  clash  of  arms; 
and  Henri  Arnaud,  mounting  the  pulpit  with  a  sword  in 
one  hand  and  a  Bible  in  the  other,  preached  from  the  129th 
Psalm ;  and  once  more  declared,  in  the  face  of  heaven, 
that  he  would  never  resume  his  pastoral  office  in  patience 
25  T 


290  THE     WALDENSES, 

and  peace,  until  he  should  witness  the  restoration  of  his 
brethren  to  their  ancient  and  rightful  settlements. 

Encouraged  by  their  success  at  Bobbi,  the  Waldenses 
marched  against  Villar,  where  there  was  a  strong  garrison, 
and  pressed  the  enemy  so  hard,  as  to  force  them  to  retire 
within  the  walls  of  a  convent ;  but  while  they  were  invest- 
ing the  convent,  a  strong  reinforcement  arrived  from  Pig- 
nerol,  relieved  the  blockade,  and  obliged  the  protcstants  to 
abandon  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  and  to  retire  among  the 
strongholds  of  the  valley  of  St.  Martin.  This  was  on  the 
twenty-second  day  after  their  landing  at  Yvoire ;  and  the 
detachments,  both  of  French  and  Piedmontese,  who  were 
sent  in  pursuit,  carried  such  devastation  with  them,  that, 
for  a  time,  all  supplies  of  provisions  were  cut  off;  and  for 
several  days,  they  had  nothing  to  subsist  upon  but  fruit 
and  vegetables.  The  warfare  now  assumed  a  more  extra- 
ordinary turn  than  ever.  The  eight  hundred  had  to  main- 
tain their  ground  against  brigades  sent  against  them,  by 
the  French  king  on  one  side,  and  the  duke  of  Savoy  on 
.the  other;  it  was  no  longer  a  detached  force,  but  a  well- 
appointed  army  with  which  they  had  now  to  contend. 
The  rocky  and  barren  district  of  St.  Martin  afforded  them 
no  resources  ;  the  defiles  that  led  into  the  more  fertile 
valleys  were  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  :  famine,  fire,  and 
sword  menaced  them  in  every  direction,  yet  they  refused 
to  surrender.  Even  the  fastnesses  which,  in  former  per- 
secutions protected  their  fathers,  were  untenable  for  any 
length  of  time,  from  want  of  provisions.  Scarcely  had 
they  taken  up  a  position  before  they  were  obliged  to  aban- 
don it,  in  search  of  supplies ;  and  it  is  an  extraordinary 
fact,  that  for  several  weeks  they  had  neither  food  nor  am- 
munition, but  what  they  took  from  the  enemy. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  impossible  that  the 


RETURN  OF  THE  WALDENSES.      291 

little  band  should  concentrate  its  force,  or  remain  together. 
It  \N-as  obliged  to  separate,  and  to  act  in  detached  parties. 
Engagements  Avere  therefore  taking  place,  almost  every 
day,  in  different  quarters  of  the  valley ;  the  enemy  never 
knew  where  they  would  be  attacked  next,  and  at  length 
w*ere  so  intimidated,  that  a  whole  company  would  fly  at 
the  sound  of  a  single  Waldensian  fusil.  The  Waldcnses 
have  always  been  good  marksmen,  and  upon  this  occasion 
they  exercised  their  skill  most  successfully.  From  the 
summit  of  a  mountain,  from  the  top  of  a  crag,  or  from 
behind  a  rock  or  tree,  a  marksman  would  frequently  take 
his  stand,  and  deliberately  fire  several  shots  before  ho 
could  be  dislodged  ;  or,  knowing  every  pass  and  defile,  a 
few  of  them  would  make  a  detour,  and  pour  in  a  volley 
upon  a  bivouacing  party  of  their  adversaries,  which  never 
failed  of  causing  dreadful  slaughter  and  consternation. 

One  great  thing  in  favour  of  this  intrepid  force  was, 
that  they  had  no  women  nor  children  to  encumber  them, 
for  these  were  still  in  Switzerland ;  there  was  nothing  to 
check  the  most  perfect  freedom  of  their  movements,  no 
strong  places  to  attack  or  defend — for  what  were  strong 
places  to  them  ?  They  could  fall  upon  their  enemy  as 
they  pleased  and  when  they  pleased  ;  and  if  too  hardly 
pressed,  they  had  a  secure  retreat  in  their  mountains,  from 
which  they  could  sally  forth  at  a  more  favourable  oppor- 
tunity. They  were  neither  to  be  beaten  by  force,  nor 
baffled  by  cunning.  The  enemy  would,  as  they  thought, 
surround  them.  Every  possible  means  of  escape  seemed 
cut  off;  but  their  intimate  knowledge  of  the  mountains, 
and  fearless  habits,  would  enable  them  to  march  off  by 
paths  which  were  either  unsuspected  by  the  enemy,  or  con- 
sidered as  utterly  impracticable. 

As  the  winter  set  in,  the  hardships  and  deprivations  of 


292  THE   WALDENSES. 

these  poor  men  increased;  without  any  shelter  for  several 
nights  together,  worn  down  by  constant  fatigue,  and  half 
famished  for  want  of  food,  it  is  wonderful  how  they  sup- 
ported their  courage.  We  find  them  one  day  at  Prali,  on 
the  second  taking  Perrero  by  storm,  and  the  day  after- 
wards surprising  Pomaret.  We  read  of  them  as  being  at 
the  last-mentioned  place  on  the  26th  day  of  the  month, 
and  on  the  29th  attacking  and  defeating  five  hundred  of 
the  Piedmontese  at  Angrogna. 

There  was  one  fortress  which  was  was  deemed  quite  im- 
pregnable, and  this  the  Waldenses  succeeded  in  supplying 
with  provisions.  It  was  that  of  Balsille,  situated  in  front 
of  one  of  the  defiles  that  lead  into  the  valley  of  St. 
Martin,  and  near  the  source  of  a  mountain  stream  which 
flows  into  the  Germanesca.  Just  at  the  point  where  the 
craggy  sides  of  the  Guignivert,  the  highest  ridge  of  this 
chain  of  Alps,  slope  down  towards  the  foot  of  the  Col  del 
Pis  (a  lofty  mountain,  which  prevents  all  access  from  the 
side  of  Pragela),  a  rampart  of  rock  stands  at  the  entrance 
of  the  pass,  and  forms  of  itself  a  barrier,  which  requires 
but  little  art  to  render  it  secure  against  any  force  that  can 
be  brought  against  it.  The  highest  part  of  this  rock  rises 
as  steep  as  a  wall,  and  has  three  stages  or  terraces,  sur- 
mounted by  a  sort  of  natural  platform.  Upon  this  plat- 
form stood  a  tower,  and  in  the  sides  of  the  rock  which 
rose  above  each  terrace,  caverns  were  hollowed  out  to 
serve  for  barracks.  Three  fountains  supplied  the  fortress 
with  water,  and  there  was  no  approaching  it  with  any  pro- 
bability of  success,  but  from  the  side  where  the  stream 
gushes  from  the  mountain.  Numberless  assaults  were 
made  by  the  enemy  upon  this  position,  but  nothing  could 
dislodge  the  little  garrison  to  whose  charge  it  was  confided. 
When  they  were  most  pressed,  a  messenger  from  the  fort 


THE  BALSILLE  DDb-ING  THE  ATTACK 


RETURN    OF    THE    WALDEXSES.  203 

was  dcspatclicd  to  Prali,  and  a  detachment  from  their  com- 
rades made  an  unexpected  attack  upon  the  French  in  the 
rear,  while  they  themselves  sallied  from  their  bulwarks, 
and  caused  an  incredible  slaughter. 

One  more  attack,  made  by  Catinat  Avith  all  his  forces, 
was  repelled  ;  and  the  general,  resolved  not  to  lose  his 
chance  of  the  baton  of  marshal,  from  beine:  again  defeated 
by  a  handful  of  mountaineers,  delegated  the  further  siege 
of  Balsille  to  the  marquis  de  Feuguieres,  who,  on  the  14th 
May,  1690,  succeeded  in  battering  down  the  bastions  of 
the  fortress.  The  French  army  then  mounted  to  the  as- 
sault, assured  of  taking  the  besieged  prisoners ;  but  a 
thick  fog,  which  arose  at  this  juncture,  enabled  the  Wal- 
denses  to  make  their  escape,  under  the  guidance  of  captain 
Poulat,  a  native  of  the  place,  along  the  edge  of  precipices 
never  before  trodden  by  the  foot  of  men,  and  along  which 
they  were  compelled  to  creep  on  their  hands  and  knees  : 
the  path  was  so  perilous,  that  men  accustomed  to  climb 
the  most  frightful  rocks  shuddered  when  they  returned  to 
the  spot  afterwards,  and  saw  the  danger  they  had  escaped. 
"  He  who  has  not  seen  such  paths  as  these,"  says  Arnaud, 
in  his  narrative  of  this  nocturnal  retreat,  "  cannot  conceive 
the  danger  of  them,  and  will  be  inclined  to  consider  my 
account  of  the  march  a  mere  fiction.  But  it  is  strictly 
true  ;  and,  I  must  add,  the  place  is  so  frightful,  that  even 
some  of  the  Waldenses  themselves  were  terror-struck, 
when  they  saw  by  daylight,  the  nature  of  the  spot  which 
they  had  passed  in  the  dark." 

From  precipice  to  precipice,  the  Waldenses  attained  the 
valley  of  Angrogna,  and  it  was  there  that  they  learned 
the  strange  vicissitude  which  had  occurred  to  crown  their 
hopes. 

A  rupture  had  taken  place  between  Louis  XIV.  and 
25* 


294  THE    AVALDENSES. 

Victor  Amadeus  :  each  was  anxious  to  conciliate  the  Wal- 
denses,  and  to  secure  the  services  of  the  gallant  band  who 
had  maintained  their  ground  so  manfully  in  the  valley  of 
St.  Martin,  and  great  offers  were  made  by  both  parties. 
Always  loyal,  the  protestants  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  every 
proposal  but  that  which  came  from  their  own  sovereign. 
A  treaty  was  effected,  a  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed, 
the  exiles  and  their  families  were  invited  to  return  home, 
and  an  order  published,  that  their  lands  and  houses  should 
be  immediately  restored,  and  their  churches  re-opencd  for 
protestant  worship. 

The  quaint  style  in  which  Boyer's*  translator  relates 
the  termination  of  the  war,  and  his  reflections  upon  the 
subject  will  not  be  considered  uninteresting.  "  The  duke 
of  Savoy  being  forced  to  break  with  France,  by  reason  of 
the  hardships  that  were  imposed  upon  him,  this  rupture 
was  the  cause  of  the  liberty  and  deliverance  of  the  Wal- 
denses  ;  for  having  understood  that  the  king  of  France  did 
solicit  them  to  embrace  his  part,  with  offers  of  re-establish- 
ing them  in  the  valleys,  and  giving  them  liberty  of  con- 
science, with  free  and  public  exercise  of  their  religion, 
which  would  have  been  very  prejudicial  to  his  interest ; 
for,  instead  of  one  enemy,  he  would  have  had  two  upon 
his  back,  and  Avould  have  been  deprived  of  the  succours 
that  the  protestant  princes  promised  the  Waldenses,  and 
of  the  considerable  service  that  they  might  do  him,  in 
keeping  the  passes,  and  in  hindering  the  communication 
of  the  troops  that  were  in  the  Delphinate,  with  the  army 
commanded  by  monsieur  Catinat;  this  prince  resolved  to 
draw  them  to  his  own  party.  And,  to  this  effect,  he  set  at 
liberty  all  the  Waldenses  that  were  in  prison,  as  well  ministers 

*  Boyer's  and  Arnaud's  accounts  were  published  soon  after  the 
events  took  place,  and  were  never  contradicted. 


RETURN    OF    THE    W  A  L  D  E  N  S  E  S  .  295 

as  Others.  He  sent  an  act  of  oblivion  to  all  those  that  \vcrc 
in  arms  in  the  valleys ;  and  gave  to  those  that  were  in 
foreign  countries  leave  to  come  home,  with  necessary  pass- 
ports, with  orders  to  all  to  turn  their  arms  against  the 
French,  whom  they  must  look  upon  as  their  true  perse- 
cutors, and  the  cause  of  all  their  miseries. 

"  He  made  be  brought  before  him   all   those  that  wore 
prisoners  at  Turin,  and  told  them  that  he  was  touched  with 
a  deep  sense  of  their  miseries ;  and  commanded  them,  in 
his  presence,  to  be  clothed,  and   to  be   furnished  with  all 
things  necessary.     He  excused  himself  that  he  had  hand- 
led them    so    roughly;    and   cast   all  upon   the   king   of 
France,  as  the  true  author  of  all  that  had  befallen  them  ; 
and  because  the   number  of  the  Waldenses  was  so  much 
diminished  that  there  were  scarce  two  thousand  left,  after 
the  last  persecution,  the  duke  of  Savoy  made  proclamation, 
that  all  those  protestants  that  were  fled  out  of  France, 
that  would  come  and  dwell  in  the  valleys,  and  join  them- 
selves with  the  Waldenses,  might  do  it,  and  be  safe  under 
his  protection,  and  have  necessary  passports.     He  ordered, 
likewise,  that  at  their  entrance  into  Savoy,  both  the  AVal- 
denses  and  the  French  should  be  furnished  with  arms,  and 
all  things  necessary  for  to  pass  into   the  valleys ;  which 
was  punctually  put  into  execution. 

"  The  return  of  the  Waldenses  into  their  country,  then- 
entrance  into  their  valleys,  and  their  subsisting  there  for 
eight  months,  are  so  many  wonders  and  miracles.  Is  it 
no't  a  miracle  that  eight  or  nine  hundred  men  should  under- 
take to  cross  an  enemy's  country  of  fourteen  or  fifteen 
days'  journey,  where  they  must  climb  up  high  mountains, 
force  divers  strait  passes,  where  an  hundred  might  not 
only  stop,  but  beat  three  thousand  ?  And  that  which  is 
most  astonishing  is,  that  these  passes  were  guarded  with 


296  THE    WALDENSES. 

great  numbers,  and  more  expert  soldiers  than  the  Walden- 
ses ;  thej,  notwithstandhig,  forced  all  those  passes  with 
their  swords  in  their  hands,  and  routed  them  that  guarded 
them,  killing  a  great  number  in  gaining  them,  with  very 
little  loss  on  their  side. 

"  It  is  likewise  another  miracle,  that  they  got  into  the 
valleys  the  entrances  being  so  difficult,  being  peopled  with 
Roman  catholics,  who  might  have  hindered  their  entrance, 
being  more  in  number  than  they ;  or  at  least  they  might 
have  possessed  themselves  of  the  most  advantageous  posts 
which  were  in  the  mountains,  and  defend  themselves  easily, 
till  the  succours  from  France  and  Savoy,  which  were  in 
readiness,  could  come  and  second  them ;  but  a  dreadful  fright 
from  God  fell  upon  them,  so  that  they  had  no  courage  nor 
conduct  to  defend  themselves,  against  Waldenses,  who,  with- 
out any  trouble  or  resistance  chased  them  out  of  the  valleys. 

"  Is  it  not  likewise  a  great  miracle  that  a  handful  of 
people,  without  any  commanders  experienced  in  warlike 
affiiirs,  should  subsist  eight  months  in  the  valleys,  and  fight 
nine  or  ten  battles  against  the  army  of  France  and  Savoy, 
Vfho  were  sometimes  twenty,  but  oftener  thirty,  against 
one,  without  being  able  to  drive  them  out  of  their  fast- 
nesses, having  killed  more  than  two  thousand  of  their 
enemies  ?  So  many  happy  successes  make  it  clear  that  the 
God  of  battles  inspired  them  with  the  generous  courage  of 
returning  into  their  own  country,  to  kindle  again  the  candle 
of  his  word,  that  the  emissaries  of  Satan  had  extinguished 
there  ;  that  he  marched  before  them,  and  fought  for  them, 
without  which  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have  forced 
so  many  difficult  passes,  and  gained  such  signal  victories. 

"The  conduct  of  God  in  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Waldenses  is  admirable,  and  make  it  evident  that  his  divine 
providence  has  judgment  and  ways  incomprehensible,  sur- 
passing all  human  understanding." 


RETURN   OP   THE   WALDENSES.  297 

All  the  Waldcnses  -who  arrived  from  their  foreign  asy- 
lums -ivere  incorporated  in  the  Waldensian  regiment  which 
William  III.  of  England,  the  ally  of  Victor  Amadous, 
raised  at  his  o^vn  expense,  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  duke  in  the  common  interest  of  the  allies.  Throughout 
the  remainder  of  the  year,  it  was  the  AValdenses  of  this 
regiment,  and  their  co-religionists,  who  were  mainly  instru- 
mental in  saving  the  duke  of  Savoy  from  being  utterly 
overwhelmed  by  the  forces  of  France  ;  and  even  after  the 
arrival  of  prince  Eugene  to  the  succour  of  the  duke,  the 
Waldenses  still  continued  to  be  the  most  eifectual  strength 
of  their  sovereign.  In  June,  1692,  accordingly,  the  duke 
issued  a  decree  by  which  he  granted  to  the  Waldenses 
full  amnesty  for  all  their  past  offences,  of  whatsoever 
kind,  the  complete  restoration  of  all  their  rights  and 
privileges,  and  of  all  their  lands  and  goods,  and  un- 
conditional license  to  exercise  their  religion,  and  for  such 
as  had  catholicized  on  compulsion  to  revert  to  their 
former  faith.  This  edict  was  renewed  in  March,  1094, 
after  another  campaign,  in  which  the  Waldenses  had  taken 
a  distinguished  share,  had  been  operated. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1696,  the  duke  of  Savoy  detached 
himself  from  the  league  which  had  been  acting  against 
France,  and  made  an  alliance  Avith  that  power,  under  the 
terms  of  which  all  the  fortresses  that  had  been  taken  from 
him  were  restored,  and  his  eldest  daughter,  Marie  Ade- 
laide, was  married  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  being  the 
fifteenth  direct  alliance  that  the  house  of  Savoy  had  con- 
tracted with  that  of  France.  On  the  5th  of  November, 
1696,  Victor  Amadous,  who,  a  few  weeks  before,  had 
been  generalissimo  of  the  coalition  against  France,  was 
nominated  generalissimo  of  the  French  army  opposed  to 
the  coalition. 


Cljaptfi:  Cmrntii-Briuntlj. 


FRESH    EDICT    OF   EXPULSION. 

The  edict  of  rehabilitation  which  the  duke  of  Savoy  had 
issued  in  1694,  in  favour  of  his  faithful  subjects  of  the 
Waldensian  valleys,"  had  excited  great  indignation  at  the 
court  of  Rome;  and  it  was  said  that  the  pope's  nuncio  at 
Turin  had  been  ordered  to  protest  against  the  concession, 
and  then  to  return  home,  while,  on  his  part,  the  duke's 
envoy  at  Rome  had  been  requested  to  withdraw  from  the 
Eternal  City.  France,  on  her  part,  anxious  to  create  the 
largest  possible  amount  of  antagonism  against  Victor  Ama- 
deus,  had  augmented  to  her  utmost  power  the  irritation  of 
the  court  of  Rome.  At  length,  Innocent  XIII.,  the  same 
pontiff  who  had  not  long  before  granted  liberty  of  con- 
science to  the  inhabitants  of  Civita  Vecchia,  in  order  to 
attract  commerce  to  that  port,  denounced  the  edict  of 
restoration  to  the  Holy  Office,  to  be  examined,  or,  in  other 
words,  condemned.  The  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  as- 
sembled in  the  presence  of  the  pope,  and,  after  an  appear- 
ance of  deliberation,  issued  an  edict,  by  which  the  ducal 
decree  was  "  annulled,  quashed,  and  reprobated,  with 
all  that  it  contained,  as  enormous,  impious,  and  detest- 
able," and  "  all  archbishops,  bishops,  inquisitors,  &:c., 
were  enjoined  to  act  as   theretofore  against  the  heretics, 

without  regard  to  the  act." 
(298) 


FRESH    EDICT    OF    EXPULSION  099 

The  duke  of  Savoy  was  for  an  instant  stupified,  as  it 
were,  by  this  edict;  but,  recalling  his  dignity  as  a  crowned 
sovereign,  and  well  knowing  that  Rome  would  crush  whom- 
soever showed  fear  of  her,  he  ordered  the  senate  of  Turin 
to  examine  the  edict.  The  attorney-general,  Rocca, 
moved,  in  the  senate,  that  the  edict  should  be  declared 
null,  and  that  the  decree  for  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Waldenses  should  be  maintained,  still  more  as  an  act  of 
justice  than  as  an  act  of  grace.  The  solicitor-general, 
Frechignone,  supported  this  motion,  and  the  senate,  by  a 
decree  of  11th  September,  1694,  quashed  the  edict  of  the 
Inquisition,  prohibited  its  publication  in  the  states  of  Sa- 
voy, under  pain  of  death,  and  confirmed  in  all  its  integrity 
the  edict  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses.  Victor  Amadeus 
communicated  this  decree  to  the  pope,  with  the  distinct 
intimation  that  no  sovereign  of  Europe  would  thenceforth 
permit,  on  the  part  of  the  holy  see,  any  such  abuse  of 
power.  Spain  and  Austria  communicated  similar  protests, 
and  the  pope,  thereupon,  alleging  that  he  had  been  misin- 
formed, ordered  his  nuncio  at  Turin  to  withdraw  the  edict 
which  had  met  with  such  emphatic  resistance. 

The  Waldenses  meanwhile  applied  themselves  to  re- 
establish their  old  organization.  Nearly  all  the  Walden- 
sian  families,  proscribed  or  catholicized,  had  returned  to 
the  bosom  of  their  church  and  of  their  country.  The  Wal- 
densian  militia  had  taken  a  prominent  rank  in  the  regular 
troops  of  Victor  Amadeus.  The  fields  were  once  more 
cultivated,  the  houses  rebuilt,  the  altars  raised  up,  and  the 
ecclesiastical  directors  of  this  little  people  endeavoured  to 
have  their  numbers  augmented. 

In  the  year  1G92  there  were  twelve  churches  in  the  val- 
leys; but  the  people  could  not  support  as  many  pastors. 
The  Queen  of  England,  as  related   on  a  previous  page, 


300  THE  WALDENSES, 

having  been  informed  of  their  misery,  instituted  twelve 
pensions  of  a  hundred  crowns  each,  for  each  pastor,  and 
of  fifty  crowns  for  each  schoolmaster.  These  payments, 
not  having  appeared  on  the  civil  list  of  William  III.,  were 
suspended  for  some  years  after  his  death ;  but  a  deputation 
of  Waldenses  to  London  then  obtained  its  restoration. 
There  were  but  nine  pastors  in  the  valleys  in  the  earlier 
part  of  1692,  but  the  number  was  increased  by  several 
others  in  June.  In  the  same  year  was  established  the 
Waldensian  Table,  or  board  for  managing  the  affiiirs  of  the 
church  ;  and  its  officers  immediately  wrote  to  the  various 
protestant  states  in  Europe  which  had  interested  themselves 
in  behalf  of  the  Israel  of  the  Alps,  acquainting  them  with 
their  new  position,  thanking  them  for  their  past  benefits, 
and  earnestly  soliciting  a  continuance  of  that  tutelary  benev- 
olence by  which  alone  they  could  raise  themselves  up  from 
the  domestic  ruin  accumulated  by  six  years  of  calamity. 
The  appeal  was  liberally  responded  to  by  Holland,  Swit- 
zerland, and  England,  whose  bounty  established  several 
schools,  and  alleviated  the  more  pressing  distresses  of  the 
Waldenses. 

A  series  of  synods  occupied  themselves  with  the  orga- 
nization of  the  church,  the  confirmation  of  discipline,  the 
strengthening  of  morals,  relaxed  by  so  many  years  of  agi- 
tation, the  release  of  brethren  from  the  galleys,  the  insti- 
tution of  a  system  of  arbitration,  and  other  reforms  and 
improvements :  and  matters  seemed  settling  upon  a  basis 
of  permanent  security  and  repose,  when  the  peace  made 
between  Victor  Amadous  and  France,  placed  the  AValden- 
ses  once  more  at  the  mercy  of  their  ancient  foes.  Chil- 
dren were  once  more  forcibly  taken  from  their  protestant 
parents,  and  no  redress  afforded.  The  Waldenses  were 
called  upon  for  extraordinary  imposts  to  repay  the  cost  of 


FRESH    EDICT    OF    EXPULSION.  301 

troops ;  and  were  peremptorily  required,  moreover,  to  pay 
all  the  taxes  that  had  accrued  in  respect  of  the  lands  they 
now  occupied,  during  the  time  of  their  exile,  and  while 
the  lands  had  been  utterly  uncultivated.  The  population, 
already  immersed  in  poverty,  thus  found  themselves  laden 
with  a  demand  amounting  to  300,000  francs,  of  which,  in 
default  of  the  principal,  they  were  to  pay  the  interest 
yearly.  It  became  manifestly  impossible  that  they  should 
satisfy  this  extortion,  together  with  the  other  imposts  that 
were  required  from  them  ;  and  many  of  them  prepared 
once  more  to  leave  that  native  land  which  they  had  recov- 
ered so  arduously,  and  the  right  to  the  tranquil  enjoyment 
of  which  they  had  earned  by  such  signal  aid  to  their  sov- 
ereign in  his  difficulties. 

In  the  spring  of  1698,  a  Jesuit,  accompanied  by  several 
monks,  made  a  detailed  inspection  of  the  valleys;  and 
upon  the  report  which  he  made  to  the  pope  of  his  inspec- 
tion, the  marquis  di  Spada  immediately  proceeded  from 
Rome  to  Turin,  where  he  had  a  long  conference  with  the 
apostolic  nuncio.  Louis  XIV.  was  at  this  time  persecuting 
the  Protestants  of  Dauphiny  with  the  most  cruel  rigour, 
and  the  protestants  of  the  valleys  divined  that  this  confer- 
ence between  their  deadly  enemies  had  for  its  object  their 
own  extirpation.  Their  alarm  was  but  too  well  founded. 
In  the  treaty  of  peace  of  18th  August,  169G,  between 
France  and  Piedmont,  there  was  a  secret  article  (the 
seventh,)  which  ran  thus  :  "  His  royal  highness  shall  pro- 
hibit, under  pain  of  corporal  punishment,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  known  under  the  name  of  AVal- 
denses,  from  having  any  religious  communication  with  the 
subjects  of  his  most  Christian  majesty  ;  nor  shall  his  royal 
highness  permit  henceforth  the  subjects  of  the  king  of 
France  to  establish  themselves  in  any  manner  in  the  said 
26 


302  THE   WALDENSES. 

valleys,  nor  allow  any  preacher,  subject  to  him,  to  set  foot 
on  the  French  territory,  nor  permit  the  worship  calling 
itself  reformed,  in  the  territories  which  have  been  ceded 
to  him."  These  territories  were  precisely  the  valleys  of 
Perosa  and  Pragela.  Pursuant  to  this  treaty,  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  on  the  1st  of  July,  1698,  issued  an  edict  by  which 
he  ordered  that  all  French  protestants  established  in  his 
states,  even  the  ministers,  should,  without  reference  to  any 
permission  theretofore  obtained  to  the  contrary,  quit  his 
states  in  the  space  of  two  months,  under  the  penalty  of 
death.  Such  of  them  as  had  become  proprietors  in  the 
country,  and  had  not  sold  their  properties  within  that 
period,  were  to  receive  the  market  price  of  the  same  from 
the  intendant  at  Pignerol.  Further,  the  Waldensian  pas- 
tors were  forbidden  to  enter  the  states  of  the  kino-  of 
France  under  pain  of  ten  years'  labor  in  the  galleys. 
Moreover,  "  in  order  to  satisfy  the  signified  desires  of  his 
majesty,"  the  inhabitants  of  the  Waldensian  valleys  were 
ordered  to  have  no  communication  with  the  subjects  of  his 
most  Christian  majesty  in  matters  of  religion,  under  pain 
of  a  public  whipping  for  each  transgression. 

The  agitation  and  misery  occasioned  in  all  the  families 
affected  by  this  edict  may  be  readily  imagined.  Most  of 
the  foreign  refugees  had  formed  alliances  with  the  Wal- 
denses,  by  marriage  or  otherwise  ;  yet  all  had  now  to  seek 
another  asylum,  and  more  than  three  thousand  emigrants 
were  thus  compelled  to  journey  forth  into  foreign  lands. 
Thither,  in  the  succeeding  chapters,  we  shall  follow  them. 


Cfiiiiittc  cKratiitii-Eigljtfi. 


THE  WALDENSES  IN  WURTEMBERG. 

Of  the  thirteen  pastors  who,  in  1698,  served  the  Wal- 
densian  church,  seven  were  foreigners,  and  -were  obliged 
accordingly  to  expatriate  themselves  under  the  edict  of  the 
1st  of  July.  Two  of  these  immediately  repaired  to  Swit- 
zerland and  Germany,  to  prepare  there  an  asylum  for  their 
fugitive  flocks.  A  certain  number  of  families  had  already 
quitted  Pragela,  in  order  to  avoid  the  vexatious  proceed- 
ings of  Louis  XIV. ;  and  towards  the  close  of  1697,  a 
portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  of  Perosa  joined 
these  first  exiles,  in  consequence  of  the  refusal  of  Victor 
Amadeus  to  recognize,  in  the  reformers  of  the  territory 
yielded  by  France,  the  same  rights  as  those  enjoyed  by 
the  reformers  of  the  other  Waldensian  valleys. 

These  families,  having  traversed  Switzerland  without 
being  able  to  find  a  settlement  there,  addressed  themselves, 
in  the  commencement  of  1698,  to  the  duke  of  Wurtemberg, 
with  the  view  of  obtaining  lands  in  his  territory.  Tiiis 
prince,  though  well  disposed  in  their  favour,  found  his 
benevolence  impeded  by  the  faculty  of  theology,  at  Tubin- 
gen, who  considered  the  Waldenses  as  stained  with  Calvin- 
ism, and  who  were  energetically  supported  in  their  opposi- 
tion by  the  ducal  council.     A  prince  of  secondary  rank, 

(303) 


304  TIIEAVALDENSES 

lio^vever,  the  count  de  Nieustadt,  a  man  of  ability  and  of 
excellent  heart,  did  not  permit  himself  to  be  influenced  by 
these  prejudices.  He  rightly  considered  that  the  active 
energies  of  the  Waldenses  might  benefit  his  district,  in 
which  they  proposed  to  establish  certain  manufactures; 
and  he  assigned  to  the  emigrants  portions  of  land  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Gochseim,  with  fifteen  acres  of  arable, 
two  of  pasture  land,  and  one  of  vineyard,  for  the  especial 
use  of  their  future  pastor.  The  privy  council,  however, 
operated  upon  by  the  enemies  of  the  unfortunate  colonists, 
presented  to  the  count  a  report,  in  which  they  declared 
that  the  opinions  of  the  Waldenses  were  neither  conforma- 
ble with  the  old  Waldensian  confession,  nor  with  that  of 
the  Moravian  brethren,  but  were  altogether  tainted  with 
Calvinism,  and  that  therefore  the  emigrants  ought  to  be 
refused  an  asylum  in  Wurtemberg,  unless  they  consented 
to  adopt  the  confession  of  Augsburg. 

The  count  de  Nieustadt,  nevertheless,  persisted  in  his 
project  of  colonization,  as  generous  towards  the  exiles  as 
beneficial  towards  his  own  territories ;  and  if  at  a  later 
period  the  Waldenses  obtained  a  footing  in  Wurtemberg, 
it  was  owing  to  the  independent  spirit  and  far-seeing  intel- 
ligence of  this  nobleman. 

Meanwhile  was  issued  the  decree  of  the  duke  of  Savoy, 
which  ordered  all  foreign  protestants  to  quit  his  states  ; 
and  two  thousand  exiles  made  to  the  gospel  the  sacrifice 
of  their  adopted  country,  of  the  beautiful  valleys  which 
they  had  inhabited  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  in  which 
they  had,  by  official  edicts,  received  authorization  to  dwell. 
These  two  thousand  exiles  were  joined  by  many  Waldenses 
allied  with  them  by  family  and  other  ties,  and  by  all  the 
protestants  who  had  remained  in  the  valley  of  Perosa,  and 
who  were  precluded,  by  a  special  clause  of  the  treaty 


IN  WURTEMBERG.  305 

between  Louis  XIV.  and  the  duke,  from  exercising  in  that 
valley  the  reformed  worship ;  so  that  the  total  number  of 
emigrants  Avas  upwards  of  three  thousand.  These  put 
themselves  in  movement,  towards  the  close  of  1698,  in 
seven  bands,  each  led  by  a  pastor.  The  duke  of  Savoy 
had  consented  to  defray  their  travelling  expenses ;  but  on 
the  third  day  the  minister  of  finance  withdrew  this  conces- 
sion, in  the  hope  that  want  of  means  might  perforce  keep 
the  Waldenses  in  the  country,  and  that  there  they  might 
be  impelled  by  want  and  persecution  to  become  Roman 
catholics. 

But  the  spirit  of  unity  and  of  Christian  enthusiasm 
which  animated  them  all,  did  not  permit  one  of  them  to 
wander  from  the  straight  path ;  the  richer  among  them 
paid  for  the  very  poor,  and  all  arrived  together  at  Geneva, 
that  hospitable  station  of  all  our  great  migrations,  sus- 
tained by  their  confidence  in  God,  the  welcome  of  their 
brethren,  and  the  succours  cordially  transmitted  from  Hol- 
land and  England.  The  evangelical  cantons  of  Switzer- 
land consented  to  entertain  them  during  the  winter,  on 
condition,  considering  the  over-population  of  Switzerland 
and  the  bad  harvest  of  1608,  that  they  would  migrate  fur- 
ther in  the  spring  of  1699. 

Meantime,  Henri  Arnaud,  and  other  Waldensian  dele- 
gates, hani  been  taking  steps  in  Wurtemberg  to  obtain  for 
their  co-religionists  a  fixed  establishment  in  that  country. 
Arnaud,  as  chief  spokesman,  showed  to  the  ducal  commis- 
sioners that  the  Waldensian  church  admitted  the  confession 
of  faith  of  the  Bohemian  brethren,  as  well  as  that  of  St. 
Cyril ;  and  declared  that  the  Waldenses,  if  received  into 
Wurtemberg,  would  be  faithful  to  the  government  of  the 
country,  in  peace  as  in  war. 

Pressing  solicitations  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses  were 

2(,  *  U 


306  THE  WALDENSES 

made  at  the  same  time  to  the  duke  of  Wurtemberg,  by  the 
courts  of  Holland  and  England,  from  both  of  which  coun- 
tries large  pecuniary  aid  was  also  transmitted  to  facilitate 
the -establishment  of  the  exiles  in  the  duchy ;  and  even- 
tually, despite  much  opposition,  the  duke  permitted  them 
to  take  up  their  abode  in  his  states,  on  very  favourable 
terms,  negotiated  chiefly  by  the  Dutch  envoy,  Walknaer. 
They  were  to  have  full  and  free  exercise  of  their  religion  ; 
to  have  in  each  of  their  churches  a  consistory,  formed  of 
the  pastor,  deacons,  and  elders ;  to  hold  synods  when 
occasion  required,  at  which  deputies  from  all  the  Walden- 
sian  colonies  around  might  attend,  a  government  commis- 
sioner being  present ;  one  half  of  the  property  of  those  who 
should  die,  intestate,  during  the  first  twenty  years  of  their 
residence  in  Wurtemberg,  was  to  be  distributed  among  the 
poor  brethren  of  the  commune ;  they  were  to  be  exempt 
from  certain  imposts  for  ten  years  after  their  establish- 
ment ;  all  the  lands  in  the  bailiwicks  of  Maulbronn  and 
Leonberg,  that  had  remained  waste  since  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  were  assigned  to  them  in  full  gift,  and  all  the  villages 
they  should  build  were  to  enjoy  the  same  privileges  with 
the  other  towns  of  the  duchy ;  for  the  exercise  of  justice 
and  municipal  administration  among  themselves,  they  were 
to  establish,  in  each  community,  a  secular  council,  consist- 
ing of  a  mayor,  sheriff,  and  such  other  persons  as  they 
might  judge  fittest  for  the  purpose,  and  which  was  to  have 
jurisdiction  in  all  civil  matters,  up  to  the  value  of  twenty 
florins ;  no  foreigner  might  settle  in  the  colonics  they 
should  establish  without  their  consent,  and  that  of  the  duke  ; 
they  were  permitted  to  trade  throughout  the  duchy,  and 
to  export  and  import  all  sorts  of  merchandise,  on  payment 
of  the  regular  dues ;  and  they  might  establish  such  fairs 
and  markets  as  they  deemed  necessary. 


IN    W  U  R  T  E  M  B  E  R  G  .  307 

These  privileges  ^vcre,  for  the  most  part,  the  same  with 
those  which  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Darmstadt  had  just 
granted  to  the  Waldenses,  at  the  solicitation  of  Walkuaer, 
and  they  served  as  the  model  of  all  similar  concessions 
which  were  granted  to  the  faithful  in  the  contiguous  states. 

To  aid  in  the  support  of  the  Waldensian  pastors  in  these 
foreign  settlements,  Arnaud,  during  his  residence  in  Lon- 
don, obtained  the  consent  of  the  British  government  that 
the  sum  of  5551.,  which  was  assigned  from  the  civil  list  to 
the  pastors  of  the  valleys,  should  be  divided,  in  fair  pro- 
portions, between  them  and  the  pastors  of  the  colonies. 

With  respect  to  the  Waldensian  colonies  in  Wurtemberg, 
six  months  before  the  completion  of  the  patent  authorizing 
their  establishment  in  that  country,  most  of  their  number 
had  arrived  (April,  1699)  at  Maulbronn,  where  they  were 
lodged,  temporarily,  in  the  stockades  which  had  been  con- 
structed at  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Louvois,  in  1688. 
The  establishment  here  of  the  unhappy  exiles  was  materi- 
ally aided  by  pecuniary  succours,  to  the  extent  of  ten 
thousand  crowns,  furnished  by  the  States-general  of  Hol- 
land ;  and  already,  in  August,  1699,  the  bailiff  of  Maul- 
bronn reports,  that  in  the  commune  of  Pinache,  the  Wal- 
densian, men,  women  and  children,  had  made  an  excellent 
beginning ;  had  brought  into  cultivation  lands  which  had 
been  waste  for  more  than  half  a  century ;  and  that  the 
happiest  results  to  the  land  of  their  adoption  were  to  be 
expected  from  their  skill  and  industry  in  agriculture,  and 
from  their  admirable  conduct. 

The  autumn  and  winter  of  the  first  year  were,  however, 
a  sore  trial  for  the  poor  colonists.  Most  of  them  were 
without  adequate  shelter  against  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  and  they  had  neither  corn,  nor  cattle,  nor  many 
other  articles  of  first  necessity.     Thanks,  however,  to  the 


308  THE     WALDENSES 

kindness  of  the  Dutch  ambassador  and  of  the  "Wurtemberg 
government,  their  wants  were  gradually  remedied,  and 
there  arose  among  them  the  following  villages,  all  bearing 
names  derived  from  the  Waldensian  valleys. 

First,  in  the  bailiwick  of  Leonberg,  where,  near  Heim- 
sheim,  there  had  been  nearly  a  thousand  acres  of  waste 
land,  was  established  the  colony  of  Pinache,  in  a  modest 
hamlet,  whose  cottages  were  each  surrounded  with  a  little 
garden  and  orchard.  The  church  was  built  on  the  hill  of 
Halberg,  overlooking  on  the  one  side  rising  ground  covered 
with  forest,  on  the  other  the  verdant  and  undulating  plain 
of  Eltingen.  Next,  in  the  bailiwick  of  Mermsheim,  rose 
Pinache,  composed,  in  the  first  instance,  of  one  hundred 
and  seventeen  families,  divided  into  three  groups  ;  one  near 
Durmentz,  another  near  Grossen-Glappach,  and  the  third 
near  Iptingen.  This  was  one  of  the  most  energetic,  and 
consequently  one  of  the  most  flourishing,  of  the  colonies, 
and  its  houses  were  altogether  of  a  superior  construction. 

South  of  this,  in  the  bailiwick  of  Dietlingen,  was  the 
colony  of  Luzerna,  in  German,  Wurmberg  ;  between  which 
and  Pinache  was  the  hamlet  of  Serres,  the  wretched  huts 
of  which  were  scattered  over  a  gentle  eminence. 

Beyond  Pinache,  towards  the  valley  of  Eintz,  from  which 
it  is  separated  by  a  magnificent  forest,  is  the  bailiwick  of 
Durmentz.  Here  a  hundred  and  fifteen  Waldensian  fam- 
ilies, who  were  subsequently  joined  by  ninety-six  other 
persons,  established  themselves  on  the  two  banks  of  the 
Eintz  ;  the  one  colony  about  the  imposing  ruins  of  the  castle 
of  Loeflfelstelz,  or  Mugensturn,  the  other  towards  Lommer- 
sheim  and  Ortisheim ;  the  village  built  by  the  former 
receiving  the  name  of  Chorres,  that  by  the  latter,  of  Sen- 
gach.  The  artisans  among  them  were  permitted  to  take 
up  their  abode  in  Durmentz  itself,  where  they  occupied  a 


IN  w  r  i{  Ti:.Mi!KKr, .  309 

street  still  called  after  them  Wdchstrass  (French  street.) 
On  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Eintz  is  Mulacre,  where  some 
of  the  Waldenses  settled,  Arnaud  being  one,  the  house 
built  by  whom  still  stands  there,  the  last  but  one  in  the 
>rillage,  on  the  left,  as  you  leave  towards  Durlaeh.  Sev- 
eral of  the  companions  of  Arnaud  took  up  their  abode  at 
Schonberg,  further  on  towards  the  mountains  of  Maulbron. 
Arnaud  himself  lived  at  Schunberg,  as  pastor,  for  twenty 
years,  and,  dying  in  1721,  aged  eighty,  his  remains  rest 
in  its  humble  church,  which  so  often  re-echoed  his  evangel- 
ical voice.  His  place  of  sepulture  is  marked  by  a  flat, 
plain  stone,  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  under  the  communion 
table. 

Between  Schunberg  and  Maulbronn  is  the  bailiwick  of 
Knittlingen,  wherein  the  Waldenses,  on  their  way  to  ]Maul- 
bronn,  took  possession  of  the  soil,  by  depositing  therein 
the  remains  of  one  of  their  pastors,  M.  Dumas,  who  had 
died  immediately  after  reaching  the  land  of  refuge.  The 
district  of  Maulbronn  received  more  than  three  hundred 
families,  who  distributed  themselves  into  three  groups;  the 
first  of  which,  towards  Dertingen,  built  the  villages  of  Lit- 
tle Villar  and  Pausselot ;  the  second,  towards  the  lake  of 
Breitheim;  the  third,  towards  Knittlingen,  founded  the 
town  of  Great  Villar,  which  became  the  largest  of  these 
colonies,  numbering,  after  a  while,  more  than  a  thousand 
inhabitants.  A  suburb  of  Great  Villar  forms  the  hamlet 
of  Diefenbach,  where,  at  present,  there  remains  only  one 
family  of  Waldensian  origin. 

Two  years  after  their  expulsion,  and  when  the  expa- 
triated families  had  founded  the  colonies  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  there  still  remained  a  great  number  of  the  exiles 
wandering  about  without  a  fixed  domicil,  which,  indeed, 
many  of  them  had  not  sought,  in  the  hope  of  soon  return- 


310  THE    WALDENSES 

ing  to  their  valleys,  as  after  the  expulsion  in  1686.  Some, 
indeed,  had,  even  retraced  their  steps,  and  consented 
to  apostatize,  in  order  to  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  val- 
leys. To  check  these  evils,  Walknaer  issued  a  circular, 
pointing  out  the  impossibility,  under  the  existing  circum- 
stance, of  a  return  to  the  valleys,  compatibly  with  an 
adherence  to  the  true  faith,  and  calling  upon  the  authori- 
ties in  each  colony  to  take  measures  for  the  maintenance 
of  regular  order. 

In  consequence  of  this  remonstrance,  the  emigrants  who 
were  still  wandering  about,  collected  together,  and  formed 
a  colony  in  the  bailiwick  of  Calw,  in  an  open  space  of  the 
Black  Forest.  The  village  they  built  here,  at  first  called 
Borseto,  from  a  village  in  the  valley  of  Pragela,  is  now 
known  as  Nieu  Engstedt.  The  Waldenses  at  first  employed 
themselves  upon  the  manufactures  of  Calw,  but  afterwards 
they  established  a  stocking  manufactory  of  their  own,  now 
nearly  extinct. 

The  administration  of  these  little  communities  ^Yas  man- 
aged by  a  syndic,  a  deacon,  who  was  also  an  elder,  and  by 
two  other  elders,  all  of  whom  bore  the  general  designation 
of  justiciaries. 

Four  years  after  the  foundation  of  these  various  colo- 
nies, fresh  events  compelled  a  thousand  persons  to  quit  the 
valley  of  Pragela,  who  were  all,  in  like  manner,  received 
in  Wurtemberg,  and  settled  in  the  district  of  Heilbronn, 
near  Brackenheim,  a  position  far  more  favourable  than 
that  of  the  other  colonies,  the  vine  and  the  mulberry-tree 
growing  there,  and  the  forests  being  less  near.  Money 
contributions  from  Holland  enabled  these  exiles  to  build  a 
church  and  a  school,  and  aided  the  erection  of  their  towns, 
which  they  variously  denominated,  after  their  native  seats, 
Usseaux,  Mentola,  or  Fenestrelles,  the  district,  as  being 


IN    WURTEMBERfi.  311 

between  Nordheim  and  Ilausen,  receiving  the  appellation 
of  Nordhausen.  In  this  settlement,  the  most  purely  Wal- 
densian  of  all — for  most  of  the  exiles  of  1G98  were  French 
refugees — the  Waldensian  type  has  remained  in  its  great- 
est purity,  in  manners,  in  costume,  and  in  accent.  Tiiere, 
as  in  the  valley's  themselves,  is  observed  the  custom  of  giv- 
ing to  each  guest  at  a  wedding,  a  piece  of  ribband,  called 
livree.  The  faces  of  the  population  still  retain  the  Italian 
character.  One  circumstance  which  contributed  to  pre- 
serve their  homogeneity  was  that,  for  a  long  time,  they 
married,  for  the  most  part,  only  among  themselves ;  ano- 
ther was,  the  practice  amoni?  them  of  assemblin";  toirether, 
from  time  to  time,  and  interchanorin";  reminiscences  of 
their  native  land,  its  history,  its  aspect,  its  manners. 

The  potato  was  introduced  into  Germany  by  these  colo- 
nists, who  also  did  much  to  extend  and  improve  the  growth 
of  the  mulberry  and  the  grape. 

It  was,  from  the  first,  a  great  object  with  the  Grand 
Consistory  of  Stuttgard  to  annex  the  Waldensian  exiles  to 
the  Lutheran  church.  Promises  and  menaces  were  alter, 
nately  employed  to  induce  the  consistories  of  the  "Walden- 
sian colonies  to  recognize  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of 
the  Lutheran  consistory,  but  with  very  little  success,  for 
so  long  as  "Wurtemberg  was  governed  by  catholic  princes 
(till  1797),  the  administration  of  that  country  had  no  inte- 
rest in  favouring  the  one  protestant  bod}''  over  the  other. 

Under  the  reign  of  the  first  Lutheran  prince,  Frederick 
I.,  the  Stuttgard  consistory  induced  some  of  the  French 
pastors,  serving  Waldensian  cures,  to  lay  a  petition  before 
the  government  that  the  German  language  might  be  sub- 
stituted for  the  French,  in  Waldensian  preaching  and 
instruction.  The  king  replied  that  he  would  permit  the 
introduction  of  the   German   language  into  the  colonies, 


312  THE    WALDENSES 

provided  that  none  of  the  Waldenses  objected.  This  pro- 
viso was  suppressed  by  the  Lutheran  consistory,  who, 
merely  announcing  the  authorization  to  use  the  German 
language,  issued  an  order  that  thenceforth  tlie  Waldensian 
religious  service  should  be  celebrated  in  German.  This 
order,  however,  was  at  once  protested  against  by  the  Wal- 
denses, who  waited  upon  the  king,  for  that  purpose,  at 
Ludwigsburg,  and  his  majesty  not  only  quashed  it,  but 
expressly  directed  that  no  such  innovations  should  be 
attempted,  except  upon  the  proposition  of  the  Waldenses 
themselves. 

On  the  accession  of  William  I.,  however,  fresh  attempts 
were  made  to  Germanize  the  Waldensian  churches,  by 
favouring  mixed  alliances  between  Waldenses  and  Luthe- 
rans,  by  inviting  the  school-masters  to  teach  in  German  as 
well  as  in  French,  and  lastly,  by  promising  to  undertake 
the  support  of  both  pastors  and  school  masters,  on  the  con- 
dition that  these  should  be  Germans.  In  an  assembly  of 
the  states,  held  at  Stuttgard,  in  1821,  it  was  resolved,  that  a 
sum  of  twelve  thousand  florins  per  annum  should  be  allotted 
to  such  Waldensian  churches  as  should  place  in  the  eccle- 
siastical administration  of  the  country -the  selection  of  their 
pastors  and  school-masters.  At  length,  in  1822,  the  last 
general  synod  of  the  Waldensian  churches  in  Wurtemberg 
took  place  at  Stuttgard.  There  was  much  talk  of  a 
fusion  between  the  two  protestant  churches,  under  the 
common  name  of  evangelical,  such  as  had  already  been 
effected  in  Baden.  There  was  very  little  discussion  on 
the  part  of  the  dissentients,  for  they  were  not  heard,  and, 
ultimately,  the  great  object  with  the  Lutheran  consistory, 
of  substituting  German  for  French  pastors  and  school- 
masters in  the  Waldensian  colonies  was  effected.  Next 
the   German  Bible  replaced  the  French  version,  but  not 


IN   WURTEMBERQ.  313 

until,   at  assiduous  conferences  of  competent  men,  it  had 
been    clearly   ascertained    by   tlic   Waldensian    pastors, 
by    the    close    comparison    of    line    Avith    line,    that    the 
contents  of  the   German   translation  -were  in   conformity 
■with  the   primitive  text.     This  union  of  the  Waldensian 
colonies  with  the   national   church,    though  at    the  time 
deeply  painful  to  the  large  proportion  of  the  exiles,  put  an 
end  to  many  abuses,  to  many  divisions  and  intrigues,  and 
introduced  greater  care  and  regularity  into  the  selection 
of  pastors  and  schoolmasters.     It  had  the  further  advan- 
tao-e  of  gradually  effacing  the  separation  which  had  previ- 
ously existed  between  the  Waldenses  and  the  people  of  the 
country.     So  long  as  the  former  spoke  among  themselves  a 
language  of  their  own,  they  inspired  more  or  less  distrust 
in  all  who  heard  but  did  not  understand  them.     Moreover, 
the  independence  of  their  church  had  previously  excited  a 
certain   degree  of  jealousy  on  the   part    of  the  national 
church,  which  was  now  removed. 


27 


Cfjiifitn  Cmnitii-nintji. 


THE    WALDENSIAN    COLONIES   IN    HESSE    D 'A  RMS- 
TAD  T,    AND   ELSE  WII  Ell  E. 

At  the  period  of  their  first  expulsion  in  1G86,  the  Wal- 
denses  had  already  applied  to  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 
d'Armstadt,  for  an  asylum  in  his  territories,  and  the  fac- 
ulty of  theology  at  Giessen,  having  been  consulted  on  the 
point,  had  decided  that  they  might  be  admitted,  on  condi- 
tion of  their  avoiding  all  polemics,  and  of  their  regarding 
the  prince  as  chief  of  the  church  [Sicmmus  Upiscopus,) 
without,  however,  their  being  required  to  modify,  in  any 
manner  or  degree,  their  confession  of  faith. 

We  have  seen  these  poor  exiles  returning  to  their  coun- 
try in  1689,  re-established  there  in  1692,  and  the  influ- 
ence upon  their  position  of  the  special  peace  made  by  the 
duke  of  Savoy  with  the  king  of  France.  In  1698,  a  body 
of  the  unhappy  Waldenses,  once  more  expelled  from  their 
native  homes,  sought  a  refuge  in  the  hospitable  territories 
of  Ernest  Louis,  landgrave  of  Hesse  d'Armstadt,  whose 
concessions,  signed  2d  May,  1699,  served  as  a  model  for 
those  afterwards  granted  to  them  by  Eberhard  Louis  grand- 
duke  of  Wurtemberg.  These  letters  patent  open  thus : 
"His  Brittannic  majesty  and  their  High  Mightinesses  the 
States-general  of  the  united  provinces  of  the  low  countries, 
having  specially  recommended  to  us  the  Waldenses,  who 
°314) 


COLONIES    IN    GERMANY.  315 

left  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  in  the  month  of  September 
last,  by  the  express  order  of  his  royal  highness  the  duke 
of  Savoy:  several  protcstant  electors  and  princes  of  the 
empire  having  formally  ^vrittcn  to  us  in  their  favour,  and 
the  sieur  Peter  "VValknaer,  in  his  quality  of  envoy-extraor- 
dinary of  their  High  Mightinesses,  having  urged  us  to  the 
same  purpose : 

"  We,  touched  with  lively  compassion  at  seeing  this  peo- 
ple again  -wandering  about,  despoiled  of  everything,  and 
seeking  a  retreat  and  an  asylum  in  Germany,  have  resolved 
to  receive  a  portion  of  them  into  our  states,  and  to  estab- 
lish them  there  under  our  protection,  so  that  no  one  shall 
molest  or  annoy  them  in  any  way,  provided  they  consci- 
entiously observe  our  orders,  and  submit  to  our  laws." 

The  letters-patent  then  proceed  to  set  forth  a  list  of 
thirty-nine  privileges  conceded  to  the  Waldensian  colonists 
in  Hesse  d'Armstadt,  and  which  permitted  them  the  free 
exercise  of  their  religion,  in  their  own  language,  in  their 
own  churches,  and  by  the  medium  of  their  own  pastors  and 
school-masters,  elected  by  themselves,  and  who  were  only 
to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  landgrave.  They  were 
to  have  their  own  consistories,  their  own  synods,  general 
and  special,  their  own  ecclesiastical  government,  and  their 
pastors  were  to  have  free  access  to  any  people  of  their 
communion  who  might  be  in  prison  or  ill,  in  any  part  of 
the  ducal  states.  In  secular  affairs,  they  were  permitted 
to  administer  justice  among  themselves,  by  their  own 
sheriffs,  and  other  officers,  and  without  appeal,  up  to  the 
sum  of  fifty  florins ;  even  in  criminal  matters,  they  were 
allowed  to  try  and  to  sentence,  execution  only  being  stayed, 
until  the  sentence  had  received  the  ratification  of  the  duke, 
who  reserved  to  himself  the  prerogative  of  pardon.  They 
were  to  have  authority  to  wear  arms,  and  to  exercise  them- 


316  THE    WALDEXSES. 

selves  in  their  use,  and,  in  case  of  war,  were  to  form  a  body 
apart,  commanded  by  their  own  officers,  and  not  liable  to 
serve  beyond  the  ducal  territories.  They  were  declared 
admissible  to  all  public  offices,  civil,  political,  and  ecclesi- 
astical, and  their  children  to  all  the  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. Their  ministers  and  their  secular  officers  were 
placed  on  an  equality,  in  all  respects,  with  the  correspond- 
ing functionaries  of  the  ducal  states.  They  were  to  be 
permitted  to  dispose  of  their  property  as  they  thought  fit; 
the  property  of  any  one  dying  intestate  was  to  be  distrib- 
uted among  his  next  heirs ;  if  there  were  no  heirs,  then  it 
was  to  be  divided  between  the  state  and  the  poor  of  his 
commune.  The  Waldensian  colonists  were  to  owe  service 
to  no  one  but  the  sovereign ;  and  for  fifteen  years  they 
were  to  be  exempted  from  the  payment  of  various  public 
taxes.  They  were  to  be  allowed  to  trade  in  any  part  of 
the  ducal  dominions,  without  license,  and  to  carry  on  what- 
ever industry  they  should  think  fit.  Whenever  it  should 
please  God  to  visit  them  with  the  plague,  they  were  not  to 
be  expelled  from  their  villages.  They  were  to  be  per- 
mitted, ill  common  with  the  other  protestant  settlers,  to 
build  a  town  near  Keltersbach,  where  lands  were  to  be 
gratuitously  assigned  to  them,  to  be  distributed  among 
themselves,  and  cultivated  as  they  should  think  fit.  They 
were,  lastly,  to  be  considered  as  upon  an  entire  equality, 
in  all  respects,  with  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  country. 

The  result  of  all  this  grand  display  of  generosity  and 
liberality,  was  a  few  miserable  villages  built  in  wretched 
localities,  the  access  to  which,  from  Darmstadt,  is  through 
a  dismal  forest,  whose  few  roads,  rugged  with  mud  and 
stones,  are  almost  everywhere  impenetrable  by  conveyances 
of  any  sort.  There  are  five  Waldensian  communities  in 
Hesse  Darmstadt :  Rohrbach,  Wembach,  Heim,  Waldorf, 


COLONIES  IN  GERMANY.  317 

and  "Welch  Neuretli.  Rohrbach,  the  residence  of  the  pas- 
tor, Jacob  Montoux,  was  the  capital  of  these  AValdensian 
colonies.  Wembach  is  not  far  distant,  and  near  tliis  is  the 
hamlet  of  Ileim  ;  Waldorf,  like  Rohrbach,  a  pastoral  resi- 
dence, lies  amid  the  woods,  on  the  left  banks  of  the  Maine, 
some  leagues  from  Frankfort. 

The  exiles  in  these  parishes  remained  in  close  union  with 
their  brethren  Avho  had  settled  in  Wurtemberrr,  crivinff 
each  other  mutual  aid  and  consolation,  holding  their  syn- 
ods in  common,  their  pastors  participating  in  the  same  sub- 
sidies, and  interchanging,  from  time  to  time,  their  pastoral 
cares. 

The  Waldenses  in  Hesse  Darmstadt  were,  however 
always  poorer  than  their  brethren  in  "Wurtemberg,  and 
their  privations  became  excessively  aggravated  by  the 
French  revolution  of  1792,  and  the  consequent  wars  on  the 
continent.  Many  of  their  families  have  already  emigrated 
to  America,  and  many  others  only  await  the  means  to  fol- 
low their  brethren,  artisans,  robust  labourers,  accustomed 
to  hard  work,  and  knowing  of  the  world  only  its  necessities. 

In  1801,  a  colony  of  sixty-five  or  seventy  families,  among 
whom  were  four  Waldensian  families,  emigrated  to  America, 
under  the  direction  of  one  Replet,  at  that  time  a  weaver, 
afterwards  a  communist  preacher,  who  is  since  dead,  leav- 
ing behind  him,  it  is  said,  a  fortune  of  ,£240,000.  They 
purchased  lands  near  Philadelphia,  which,  after  having 
in  seven  years,  brought  them  to  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
they  sold  at  a  large  profit,  and  purchased,  with  the  pro- 
ceeds, a  vast  and  fertile  tract  of  land  on  the  Mississippi,  on 
which  they  have  since  prospered  in  a  very  eminent  degree. 


27* 


C[in|iter  ^(KjjirtiHlj. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WALDENSES    OF    PRAGELA,  AND 
OF    THE    ADJACENT    VALLEYS. 

The  history  of  the  Waldenses  of  Pragela  is  quite  dis- 
tinct from  that  of  the  other  valleys,  these  being  often  per- 
secuted, while  those  were  tranquil,  and  vice  versa;  the 
reason  of  this  being,  that  Pragela  belonged  to  the  king 
of  France,  while  the  others,  up  to  1713,  belonged  to  Pied- 
mont. 

The  valley  of  Pragela  extends  along  the  banks  of  two 
parallel  rivers,  the  Clusone  and  the  Dora,  between  the 
crest  of  the  Alps  to  Pignerol,  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  to  Bussolino,  near  Susa.  The  adjacent  valleys  that 
terminate  in,  or  prolong,  the  basin  of  the  Dora,  are  those 
of  Mathias  and  Meano,  on  the  right  bank  ;  of  Chaumont, 
Exili,  and  Bardoneche,  on  the  left  bank ;  and  of  Thures 
and  Sauzet  towards  the  bottom.  The  Col  de  Sestrieres 
separates  this  district  from  the  basin  of  Pragela,  where 
flows  the  Clusone,  on  whose  banks  are  the  lateral  valleys 
of  Traversa,  Puy,  Pourrieres,  and  Villaret,  the  latter  com- 
municating with  the  narrow  valley  of  Meano.  Prior  to 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  the  Waldenses  of 
these  valleys  possessed  eleven  parishes,  eighteen  churches, 
and  sixty-four  centres  of  religious  assembling,  where  wor- 

(318) 


THE    WALDEXSES    OF    PR  A  GEL  A,    ETC.         310 

ship  was  celebrated,  morning  and  evening,  in  as  many 
hamlets. 

It  was  at  Laus,  in  Pragcla,  that  was  held  the  famous 
synod  where,  two  hundred  years  before  the  protcstant 
reformation,  one  hundred  and  forty  protestant  pastors 
assembled ;  each  accompanied  by  two  or  three  lay  deputies  ; 
and  it  was  from  the  valley  of  Pragela  that  the  Gospel 
of  God  made  its  way  into  France,  prior  to  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Before  the  dominion  of  the  king  of  France,  the  "\Val- 
denses  of  Pragela  had  been  subject  to  the  sway  of  the  Dau- 
phins. In  the  accounts  of  the  Chatelain  Delpldnal,  dated 
6th  of  November,  1315,  under  the  head  of  the  valley  of 
the  Clusone,  we  find  the  item :  "  ninety-three  livres  tour- 
nois,  three  deniers,  paid  to  the  inquisitors  for  the  exercise 
of  their  functions  in  the  valley ;  and  again,  in  the  accounts 
for  the  year  1345,  we  find  the  inquisitors  of  the  valley  of 
Pragela  in  full  operation  "against  the  heretics,"  there 
being  a  regular  balance-sheet  of  receipts  and  expenditure 
under  this  head,  the  expenditure  being  the  money  paid  to 
the  inquisitors  for  imrsuing,  torturing,  and  burning  the 
heretics ;  the  receipts  being  the  amounts  realized  from  the 
confiscated  property  of  the  heretics  so  burned.  In  the  per- 
secution of  the  evangelicals  which  took  place  in  1556,  the 
Waldensian  churches  of  Larche,  Merona,  Meano  and  Suza, 
were  fiercely  assailed,  and  the  minister  of  Meano  was 
cruelly  put  to  death. 

Under  the  reign  of  Charles  IX.  the  protestants  of  the 
valley  of  Pragela  had  to  undergo  all  the  animosity  of  the 
Guise,  of  the  marshal  de  Retz,  and  of  Mary  de  Medici, 
being  defended,  on  the  other  hand,  by  the  princes  de 
Conde,  the  admiral  Coligny,  and  the  king  of  Navarre. 
The  chiefs  of  the  Huguenot  party  in  Dauphiny  were  tiie 


320  THE   WALDENSES 

intrepid  Montbrun  and  the  ferocious  Des  Adrets,  the 
latter  of  whom  dishonoured  the  cause  by  bootless  brutali- 
ties. He  invaded  Pragela  in  the  spring  of  1562,  and 
committed  infinite  violence  upon  the  catholics,  the  only 
result  of  which  was  that,  when  he  withdrew,  the  catholics 
made  the  protestants  responsible  for  outrages  with  which 
they  had  had  nothing  to  do.  At  Brian^on,  the  \Yaldenses. 
who  had  just  taken  the  town,  were  themselves  hemmed  in 
by  fresh  troops  of  the  enemy,  and  pitilessly  massacred. 
Another  company  of  the  evangelical  soldiers  were  sur- 
rounded in  like  manner,  in  a  ruined  temple,  between 
Rouilleres  and  Pragela,  and  all  slaughtered. 

The  wars  of  religion  were  for  a  moment  calmed  in 
France  by  the  edict  of  pacification,  which  Charles  IX. 
signed  at  Amboise,  19th  of  March,  1563,  an  edict  con- 
taining provisions  more  favourable  to  the  reformers  than 
any  they  had  hitherto  obtained ;  but  it  was  modified  by  a 
royal  ordonnance  given  at  Lyon,  9th  of  August,  1564. 

The  haughty  and  artful  Catherine  de  Medici,  however, 
while  aff'ecting  a  desire  to  reconcile  the  two  parties,  was 
all  the  time  levying  troops  wherewith  to  assail  the  Hugue- 
nots. This  was  in  1567,  and  at  that  juncture  the  duke 
of  Cleves,  traversing  Piedmont  with  a  Spanish  army,  on 
his  way  to  Flanders,  had  reached  Pignerol.  Immediately 
upon  his  arrival  there,  he  ordered  all  the  Waldenses, 
native  or  foreigners,  to  register  themselves  individually 
with  the  governor  of  the  province  in  which  they  dwelt. 
The  same  course  was  adopted  towards  the  reformers  of 
France,  the  object  being  to  ascertain  the  exact  strength 
of  the  party.  Birague,  governor  of  Pignerol,  prohibited 
all  persons  in  his  district  from  receiving  pr(Aestants  into 
their  houses,  on  pain  of  death,  and  from  every  side  and 
every   form,    danger   menaced   the   unhappy  Waldenses. 


OF    PRAGELA,    AND    ADJACENT    VALLEYS.    ;]21 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  "Waldensian  churches  held 
a  synod  in  the  valley  of  Clusone  (May,  1567),  and  decreed 
a  general  fast,  in   order  to  avert   God's  chastisements  by 
humiliation    and  prayer.      The  cloud  passed   on  ;  hut  it 
^vas  only  for  a  while.     The  St.  Bartholomew  ensanguined 
France,  and  fear  once  more  spread  itself  over  the  valleys. 
"  The  catholics,"  says   Gilles,   "  rejoiced,  and  rallied  the 
reformists  as  though  God  had  been  abolished."     The  pro- 
testant  worship  was  forbidden  on  French  ground,  and  the 
protestant  churches  were  shut  up  ;  the   protestants  con- 
tinued to  celebrate  their  religious  services  in  the  fields  or 
in  private  houses ;  at  length,  in  1573,  the  governor  of 
Pignerol  ordered  the  protestants  to  cease   their  religion 
alt'ogether  ;  they  refused,  and  Birague,  marching  out  his 
troops  by  night,  surprised  the  town  of  St.  German  before 
daybreak.     Five  men  belonging  to  the  place  were  seized 
as   they  came   out   to   their  work,  and   hanged  ;  but    the 
alarm  thus   given,  the   rest   of  the   inhabitants   defended 
themselves  valiantly,  and  captain  Frache,  hastening  from 
the  heights  of  Angrogna  with  his  band  of  warriors,  chased 
the  ass°ailants  back  to  Pignerol,  subjecting  them  on  the 
way  to  heavy  losses. 

Wearied  of  the  fruitless  struggle,  both  parties  desired 
an  accommodation,  and  the  Waldenses,  in  August,  1573, 
consented  to  waive,  for  a  month,  the  public  celebration  of 
their  worship,  and  to  dismiss  their  pastor,  on  the  condition 
that  both  sides  should  lay  down  their  arms,  that  all  pri- 
soners should  be  mutually  surrendered,  without  ransom, 
and  that  there  should  be  no  prosecutions  of  individuals  by 
reason  of  the  late  events.  But  in  the  following  year, 
Charles  IX.  (iied  a  horrible  death  at  Vincenncs,  and  his 
brother,  Henry  III.,  ascending  the  throne,  at  once  declared 
against  religious  liberty;    and  a  great  council,  held  at 

V 


322  TIIEWALDENSES 

Lyon,  Gth  of  September,  1574,  decreed  the  rigorous  pro- 
secution of  the  intestine  and  cruel  war  by  which  it  was 
hoped  to  destroy  the  Huguenots.  The  latter,  however, 
with  three  princes  of  the  blood  at  their  head,  assumed  so 
bold  a  front,  that  the  papists  deemed  it  expedient  to  make 
peace ;  and  by  the  edict  of  the  14th  of  May,  1576,  the 
protestants  obtained  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion, 
admission  to  the  parliaments,  and  the  possession,  by  their 
troops,  of  a  certain  number  of  fortresses,  to  be  held  as 
hostages.  These  guarantees  excited  intense  indignation 
amonn;  the  Roman  catholics  ;  the  more  ardent  amono;  them 
leagued  together  ;  the  crowd  followed  them,  the  ambitious 
placed  themselves  at  their  head,  the  indecision  of  the  king 
enabled  them  to  acquire  strength,  and  thus  arose  the 
League. 

To  repress  the  League,  the  menaced  party  demanded 
the  assembling  of  the  States-general,  which  were  accord- 
ingly opened  by  the  king  at  Blois,  6th  December,  1576. 
But  the  Calvinists  did  not  derive  thence  the  advantages 
they  had  hoped.  The  assembly,  all  the  members  of  which 
were  Roman  catholics,  revoked  their  privileges,  and  decreed 
a  formal  authorization  of  the  League,  which  they  compelled 
the  kino;  himself  to  sign. 

Civil  war  was  thus  lighted  up  once  more  with  greater 
fury  than  ever;  but  soon,  in  the  fear  lest  the  reformers 
might  call  in  foreign  troops  to  their  aid,  Henry  III. 
granted  them  (5th  of  October,  1577)  a  new  edict  of  paci- 
fication. It  was  the  sixth,  and  was  as  little  durable  as  the 
rest.  The  war  proceeded,  and  the  agitations  which  it  occa- 
sioned throughout  France  had  their  echo  in  the  Waldensian 
valleys  belonging  to  France,  where,  under  the  shield  of  the 
League,  the  enemies  of  the  protestants  acquired  fresh  dnr- 
insr.     It  was  said  that  a  coalition  had  been  formed  between 


OF    PRAGELA,    AND    ADJACENT    VALLEYS.     303 

Henry  III.,  Philip  II.,  and  tlic  duke  of  Savoy,  to  annihi- 
late the  church  of  the  valleys ;  and  to  this  cruel  menace 
the  Israel  of  the  Alps  responded  by  a  public  fast  (loth, 
16th,  22d,  and  23d  May,  1585),  consecrated  to  humiliation 
and  prayer.  The  duke  of  Savoy,  so  far  from  joining  the 
League,  strongly  denounced  its  excesses,  and  the  valleys 
under  his  rule  were  consequently  tranquil ;  but  the  val- 
leys of  the  Dora  and  the  Clusonc  underwent  much  suf- 
fering. 

The  edict  by  which,  in  February,  1G02,  after  the  con- 
clusion of  peace,  Charles  Emanuel  accorded  religious  lib- 
erty to  the  Waldensian  valleys,  restricting  the  exercise  of 
the  protestant  worship  to  the  churches  comprehended 
within  the  precise  limits  of  those  valleys,  the  churches  of 
Saluzzo  and  Pragela  found  themselves  excluded  from  its 
operation.  The  members  of  these  churches  thereupon 
assembled  together  by  representatives,  at  Pragela,  and 
drew  up  a  protest  against  the  machinations  and  violence  to 
which  they  were  subjected.  One  effect  of  this  spiritual 
declaration  was  to  augment  the  ardour  of  proselytism  in 
the  zealous  missionaries  whom  popery  had  distributed 
through  the  valleys,  and  whose  labours  were  now  aided  by 
the  archbishop  of  Turin  in  person,  who,  reaching  Perosa 
on  the  25th  May,  1602,  availed  himself  of  the  state  of 
well-nigh  famine  under  which  the  district  was  suffering,  to 
offer  corn,  bread,  and  money  to  all  who  would  catholicize, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  withhold  from  the  reapers  per- 
mission to  seek  work  in  the  plain  of  Piedmont,  until  they 
had  promised  to  apostatize ;  but  his  pious  labours  found 
scarcely  any  success.  In  1623,  by  the  exertions  of  the 
catholics,  an  order  vras  obtained  from  the  duke,  requiring 
the  Waldenses  of  the  valley  of  Perosa  to  demolish  six  of 
their  churches.     The   order   was   disregarded;  the   ducal 


324  THE    WALDENSES 

troops  were  ordered  into  the  valley  to  enforce  it,  but  the 
Waldenses  at  once  collected  in  arms,  and,  aided  by  the 
sudden  and  severe  setting-in  of  winter,  expelled  the  sol- 
diery, and  once  more  amnesty  was  proclaimed,  and  the 
privileges  of  the  Waldenses  confirmed. 

In  1629  and  1630,  Louis  XIII.  invaded  Piedmont  by 
Susa  and  the  valley  of  Pragcla,  and  his  presence  amongst 
the  Waldenses  had  a  great  influence  on  their  destinies. 
The  last  of  the  wars  of  religion  of  which  France  was  the 
theatre  was  now  at  its  height.  The  protestant  party, 
defeated  by  arms,  only  raised  its  head  once  more  by  force 
of  discussion.  In  1627,  the  dukes  of  Rohan  and  Soubise, 
the  chiefs  of  the  Huguenots,  had  demanded  aid  from  Eng- 
land, who  had  thereupon  despatched  one  hundred  and  fifty 
ships  to  Rochelle.  The  cardinal  de  Richelieu  constructed 
a  celebrated  dike  to  prevent  them  from  throwing  any  suc- 
cours into  the  town ;  but  the  siege  of  the  place  still  lasted 
from  10th  August,  1627,  to  28th  October,  1628,  and  it 
then  only  surrendered  in  the  last  extremity,  and  after 
twelve  thousand  of  its  inhabitants  had  died  of  famine. 
The  fortifications  of  the  town  were  destroyed,  the  munici- 
pality abolished,  and  the  exercise  of  Catholicism  established. 
Louis  XIII. ,  who  had  entered  the  town  on  the  1st  of 
November,  received  a  sort- of  triumph  on  his  return  to 
Paris,  which  took  place  on  the  23d  December.  In  the 
interval,  several  towns  of  the  second  class,  had  been  taken 
from  the  protestants  in  the  Vivarais  and  in  Languedoc, 
but  many  others  still  held  out. 

Li  the  commencement  of  the  year,  Charles  de  Gonzaga, 
duke  de  Nevers,  had  inherited  the  duchy  of  Mantua,  to 
which  Spain  and  Savoy  disputed  his  title.  The  king  of 
France,  in  his  support,  marched  in  person  upon  Piedmont, 
the  marquis  d'Azel  commanding  his  vanguard.     In  the 


OF  P  RAG  EL  A,  AND  ADJACENT  VALLEYS.  :>05 

spring  of  1G28,  he  sought  to  force  the  Alps,  in  order 
to  make  his  Avay  into  tlie  valleys  of  Italy.  All  the 
Piedmontcse  troops  were  immediately  assembled.  On  his 
part,  colonel  Porporato,  commander  of  the  Waldcnsian 
militia,  convoked  a  meeting  of  the  Waldensian  pastors  and 
syndics  at  Roccapiatta,  for  the  purpose  of  applying  their 
interest  over  their  people  to  the  setting  on  foot  the  great- 
est possible  number  of  Waldensian  soldiers.  The  Wal- 
denses  readily  promised  their  co-operation,  on  the  simple 
condition  they  should  themselves  be  left  to  guard  the 
passes  of  their  mountains,  a  condition  -which  ^vas  at  once 
granted. 

The  posts  so  established  were  inspected  by  superior  offi- 
cers of  the  ducal  army,  and  Charles  Emanuel  himself 
inspected  the  entrenchments  formed  in  the  valley  of  Pe- 
rosa  (August  1628).  The  count  de  Verrua,  one  of  the 
duke's  most  distinguished  generals,  renewed  to  the  pastors 
the  solicitations  for  earnest  aid  made  by  colonel  Porporato, 
and  promised,  in  his  sovereign's  name,  the  most  ample 
religious  liberty  in  return. 

On  the  16th  of  January,  1629,  Louis  XIII.  quitted 
Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  crossing  the  Alps  at  the  head  of 
his  army.  When  he  had  reached  Brian^on  (end  of  Feb- 
ruary) the  governor  of  Pignerol  ordered  all  the  male  inhab- 
itants of  the  valleys  capable  of  carrying  arms  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  to  march.  Count  Philip  of  Lu- 
zerna  placed  himself  at  their  head,  and  led  them  into  the 
valley  of  Perosa.  Charles  Emanuel  himself  had  advanced 
into  the  valley  of  the  Dora. 

On  the  4th  of  ]\Iarch,  Louis  XIII.  crossed  Mont  Ge- 
nevre,  and  on  the  6th,  forced,  in  person,  the  three  barri- 
cades of  Susa,  defended  by  the  duke  of  Savoy,  who  was 


28 


326  THE   AVALDENSES 

fain  to  give  way  before  superiority  alike  in  numbers  and 
in  courage. 

On  the  11th  of  March  he  concluded  peace  with  the  king  ; 
and,  having  just  before  been  the  ally  of  the  Spaniards, 
now  undertook  to  fight  against  them,  and  to  assist  France 
i]^  compelling  them  to  raise  the  siege  of  Casale,  in  favour 
of  the  duke  de  Nevers. 

After  the  victory  he  had  thus  achieved,  Louis  XIII. 
received  felicitations  and  addresses  of  various  kinds,  among 
which  we  may  signalize  that  of  the  provost  of  Ouxl. — 
"Sire,''  said  this  functionary,  "Providence  has  blessed 
your  arms,  because  you  have  consecrated  them  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  faith.  The  numerous  triumphs  which  your 
majesty  has  effected  in  France,  over  heresy,  fill  all  true 
catholic  hearts  with  joy ;  everywhere  do  they  offer  up  their 
prayers  to  Heaven  for  your  majesty's  preservation  and 
glory,  assured  that  Heaven,  in  conducting  you  to  our  land, 
wills  to  complete  its  work  in  augmenting  your  glory  and 
our  consolation,  by  raising  up  the  catholic  worship,  which 
acquires  strength  wherever  your  majesty  proceeds,  and 
which  vehemently  needs  such  succour  in  these  unhappy 
valleys,  where,  bitter  truth  to  say,  it  has  been  completely 
prostrated."  To  this  address  was  annexed  a  petition 
signed  by  several  catholics  of  the  neighbourhood,  calling 
upon  the  king  to  restore  their  religion  in  all  the  communes 
of  the  upper  Dora,  where,  at  that  moment,  not  a  single 
cure  existed.  Accordingly,  by  a  decree  of  1st  April,  1629, 
Louis  XIII.  ordered  that  the  exercise  of  the  Romish  reli- 
gion should  be  re-established  throughout  the  valleys  of 
Exili,  Bardoneche,  Cesuna,  and  Pragela ;  and  that  the 
popish  clergy  should  immediately  resume  possession  of  all 
the  property  which  had  theretofore  belonged  to  them,  into 
whose  hands  soever  it  might  have  passed,  and  whatsoever 


OF  PR  A  LEG  A,  AND  ADJACENT  VALLEYS.  3-27 

prescription  might  bo   made   out  in  favour  of  the  actual 
proprietors. 

M.  de  Verthamont,  judiciary  of  the  army  of  Italy,  was 
directed  to  superintend  the  execution  of  these  orders,  and, 
accompanied  by  Henry  d'Escoubleau,  archbishop  of  Bor- 
deaux, he  the  next  day  proceeded  to  the  scene  of  his 
labours.  The  church  of  Rome,  however,  had  but  very  few 
adherents  in  the  upper  valleys ;  and  royal  power,  though 
it  might  give  it  official  access  to  the  villages,  could  not  give 
it  access  to  men's  hearts.  Its  priests  had  parishes  without 
parishioners ;  and  their  efforts  would  have  probably  re- 
mained unsuccessful,  but  for  an  unexpected  circumstance 
which  communicated  to  them  a  fresh  impulse,  and  opened 
to  them  a  wider  field  of  operations. 

The  duke  of  Savoy,  who  had  not  conformed  to  the  treaty 
of  Susa,  was  again  menaced  by  France.  In  the  spring  of 
1630,  cardinal  de  Richelieu  marched  a  considerable  army 
against  him.  It  entered  Piedmont  by  the  valley  of  the 
Dora,  and  for  a  while  took  the  direction  of  Moutfcrrat, 
but,  suddenly  turning  to  the  south,  it  advanced  upon  Pig- 
nerol,  and  this  city,  assailed  on  the  20th  March,  1630, 
surrendered  two  days  afterwards.  The  citadel,  however, 
held  out  till  the  29th. 

The  marshal  de  Crequi  next,  on  the  21st  March,  took 
possession  of  the  valley  and  castle  of  Perosa,  whence  he 
summoned  the  valleys  of  St.  Martin  and  Luzerna  to  sur- 
render at  discretion.  They  refused,  and  sent  to  the  duke 
of  Savoy  for  succours,  which  he  was  unable  to  furnish. 
The  French  army  advanced,  and  encamped  at  Bricherasio. 
Charles  Emanuel,  on  the  contrary,  retreated  beyond  the 
Po.  Seeing  that  further  resistance  was  impracticable,  the 
^Yaldenses  surrendered,  on  condition  that  they  should  not 
be  required  to  bear  arms  against  the  duke  of  Savoy,  and 


328  THE    WALDENSES 

that  the  free  exercise  of  the  protestant  religion  should  be 
guarranteed  to  them.  Marshal  Schomberg  accepted  these 
conditions;  and  thereupon  deputies  from  each  of  the  Wal- 
densian  communes  repaired  to  Pignerol  to  take  the  oath 
of  fidelity  to  the  king  of  France. 

Fresh  detachments  of  French  troops  arrived  every  day. 
The  country  was  utterly  exhausted  ;  plague,  famine,  and 
war  desolating  it  all  at  once.  Louis  XIII.,  who  had 
returned  to  Lyon  in  May,  passed  thence  into  Savoy,  which 
he  rapidly  subjected.  In  July,  the  duke  de  Montino 
readily  obtained  possession  of  the  marquisate  of  Saluzzo  ; 
nearly  the  whole  of  Piedmont  then  passed  under  French 
dominion,  and  the  siege  of  Casale,  the  original  cause  of 
all  these  troubles,  was  raised  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  26th 
October,  before  the  victorious  arms  of  France. 

Charles  Emanuel  died  of  grief  on  the  26th  July,  1630, 
and  his  son,  Victor  Amadeus  I.,  negotiated  the  peace  of 
Ratisbon  in  the  following  October.  By  this  treaty,  he 
recovered  all  his  states,  and  obtained  a  few  unimportant 
places  in  Montferrat.  The  valleys  of  the  Clusone  and  of 
the  Upper  l)ora,  and  the  town  of  Pignerol,  remained  in 
the  possession  of  France. 

The  Waldensian  population  of  these  districts  were 
entitled  to  avail  themselves,  for  the  celebration  of  their 
worship,  of  the  edicts  regulating  the  reformed  church  of 
France  ;  an  edict  of  April,  1630,  indeed,  especially  author- 
ized them  to  do  so ;  but  the  town  of  Pignerol  demanded 
that  the  protestant  worship  should  be  interdicted  through- 
out its  territory,  and  this  prohibition  was  granted.  Mean- 
while, the  priests  who  had  been  established  in  the  valley 
of  Pragela  in  1629,  and  the  Capuchin  missionaries  who 
had  proceeded  thither  to  labour  at  the  conversion  of  the 
heretics,  had  all  died,  or  fled,  during  the  plague  of  1630. 


OF    r  11  A  C!  E  L  A  ,    AND    ADJACENT    \'  A  L  L  E  Y  S .    309 

The  prior  of  Mentola  alone  remained.  Fresh  attempts  at 
conversion  -were  made,  but  without  success.  The  numbers 
of  the  "Wiihlenscs,  so  far  from  diminishinfir,  increased  daily. 
Louis  XIII.  had  granted  them  the  confirmation  of  their 
ancient  privileges.  By  their  agricultural  operations,  their 
various  trades,  and  their  acquisitions  thence  derived,  they 
were  occupying  greater  and  greater  space  in  the  country. 
This  very  progress  drew  invidious  attention  upon  them. 
Their  enemies  made  an  outcry  against  their  encroachments. 
The  clergy  set  the  magistracy  to  work,  and  the  attorney- 
general  hud  an  information  before  the  sovereign  council  at 
Pignerol,  that  many  of  the  protestants  of  the  valley  of 
Perosa  were  forming  establishments  beyond  the  limits 
within  which  alone  they  were  permitted  to  exercise  their 
worship. 

In  consequence,  the  council,  by  a  decree  of  ITth  July, 
1645,  renewed  the  prohibition  to  the  Waldenscs  to  open 
schools  or  churches,  to  preach,  and  even  to  teach,  beyond 
the  ancient  limits  assigned  them.  It  also  forbad  any 
foreign  protestant  to  settle  in  the  country,  under  penalty 
of  the  confiscation  of  his  goods,  and  a  fine  of  one  thousand 
livres  upon  the  commune  which  had  permitted  the  settle- 
ment to  take  place,  without  giving  notice  to  the  registrar 
of  Pignerol ;  lastly,  the  protestants  were  forbidden  to  hold 
any  public  office,  or  to  purchase  or  lease  any  land,  beyond 
their  own  limits ;  to  work  on  catholic  festivals  ;  to  dissuade 
any  persons  from  catholicizing;  to  buyer  sell  any  pro- 
testant religious  book  ;  and  to  hold  any  municipal  meet- 
ings among  themselves  without  the  presence  of  the  local 
judge,  under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  two  hundred  livres  from 
each  of  the  persons  present  at  such  meetings.  Tiie  edict 
cpntained  one  prohibition  addressed  to  the  catholics  :  the 
prohibition,  namely,  to  contribute,  in  any  form  or  degree, 

1:8* 


3S0  THE     WALDENSES 

to  support  of  protestant  pastors  or  churches,  under  penalty 
of  fifty  livres  fine  for  each  offence.  It  may  be  readily 
imagined  that  this  last  prohibition  was  one  of  those  most 
exactly  observed.  Its  enactment,  however,  proves  that 
'the  manners  of  the  country  had  been  imbued  with  that 
spirit  of  brotherhood  which  one  observes  wherever  the 
Waldenses  have  lived,  and  of  which  even  the  followers  of 
an  opposing  faith  could  not  help  undergoing  the  influence. 

The  Waldenses,  aggrieved  by  these  numerous  restric- 
tions, asserted  the  rights  they  had  enjoyed  under  the 
dukes  of  Savoy,  all  Avhose  edicts  were  preserved  by  the 
decree  of  17th  July  ;  and  upon  their  remonstrance,  the 
sovereign  council  declared  that  "it  had  not  intended  to 
make  any  innovation  upon,  nor  any  change  in,  the  rights, 
state,  and  condition  wherein  the  petitioners  were,  under  the 
rule  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy,  in  1630." 

But  the  edict  of  Nantes  had  granted  to  the  protestants 
the  free  exercise  of  their  worship,  and  full  right  to  hold 
any  ofiice  whatever  in  judicature  or  finance.  The  Wal- 
denses of  Pragela  now  formed  a  portion  of  France  ;  they 
claimed,  therefore,  that  the  benefits  of  the  edict  should  be 
extended  to  them,  and  this  demand  was  granted  by  deci- 
sions of  the  council,  on  10th  March,  and  19th  August, 
1648. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  milder  legislation,  the  num- 
bers and  the  prosperity  of  the  Waldenses  of  Pragela 
rapidly  increased.  The  attempts  of  Louis  XIII.  to  re-es- 
tablish Catholicism  in  their  country,  had  produced  only  a 
momentary  effect.  The  churches  which  he  had  founded  in 
1622  remained  empty  and  closed  ;  the  vicarages  themselves, 
in  which  a  solitary  shepherd  had  been  placed  to  tend  a 
non-existent  flock,  were  soon  deserted  ;  the  plague  of  1630 
killed  or  dispersed  their  useless  inhabitants,  who  were  not 


OF    PRAGELA,    A  ^' D    ADJACENT    VALLEYS.    IJSl 

replaced.     In  many  localities  the  municipality  applied  the 
vacated  edifices  to  other  purposes. 

At  Traversa,  the  catholic  chapel  having  gone  to  decay, 
the  Waldenses  used  its  materials  in  the  construction  of  a 
church  for  themselves.  This  proceeding  ^vas  denounced 
by  the  Romish  clergy  as  a  crime,  as  robbery,  sacnlege, 
rebellion ;  and  there  was  extreme  excitement  aroused  on 
the  subject.  At  length  Lesdiguieres  interposed,  m  his 
character  as  governor  of  Dauphiny,  and  deculed  that  the 
Waldenses  should  contribute,  to^vards  the  erection  of  a  new 
popish  chapel,  the  value  of  the  materials  winch  they  had 
taken  from  the  ruins  of  the  old  edifice. 

The  catholics,  whose  faith  old  Lesdiguieres  had  adopted, 
were  not  peculiarly  satisfied  with  his  intervention  nr  this 
matter,  for,  a  few  years  afterwards,  the  town  of  1  .gnerol 
seekin-T  to  keep  the  Waldenses  from  its  territory,  to  which 
risinc^°prosperity    was    enabling    them    to    approximate, 
addressed  a  petition  to  Louis  XIV.,  in  which,  after  pro- 
testing against  the  religious  liberty  which  the  pro  estants 
of  Pe^osa  and  Pragela  vindicated  for  themselves   the  pei- 
tioners  said:  "The  treaty  which  gave  them  this  liberty 
^as  obtained  in  January,  1593,  by  Lesdiguieres.  sword  m 
hand.     True,    it    was    afterwards    confirmed     ^^  f^^'^^ 
terms;  but  considering  that  this  general  P^f  ^^^^^' ^^^^  ^ 
time,  the  reformed  religion,  and  the  king,  Henry  R  • ,    •  d 
been  obliged  to  bring  back  his  subjects  by  al    possibl 
.neans  ;  t£at,  moreover,  the  treaty  had  been  taciUy  revoked 
by  the  edict  of  Nantes,  which  only  authorizes  the  celebia- 
tion  of  the  protestant  worship  in  those  places  where  it  wa 
p^viously  Celebrated;  and  that  the  Waldenses  of  Per- 
cannot  prove  that  they  enjoyed  the  free  exercise       the 
worship   under  the    dukes  of   Savoy,-we   requ  st  >our 
:Sy  formally  to  interdict  this  worship  throughout  the 


gr/2  THE    WALDENSES 

territory  of  Pignerol."  This  petition  was  dated  in  April, 
1654  ;  on  the  24th  of  the  same  month,  Louis  XIV.,  then 
scarcely  seventeen  years  old,  and  Avho  had  not  yet  been 
crowned,  but  who  had  already  begun  to  serve  the  exclusive 
pretensions  of  the  Romish  church,  from  that  instinct  of 
despotism  common  to  both,  granted  its  prayer ;  and  on  the 
4th  August  was  published  the  royal  decree,  prohibiting  to 
the  Waldenscs  the  public  exercise  of  their  religion  within 
the  territory  of  Pignerol. 

The  proselytizing  ambition  of  the  monks  and  Jesuits  ac- 
quired fresh  strength  from  this  sun  of  tyranny,  "  unequalled 
in  the  world/'  as  the  motto  of  the  great  king  declares. 
These  attempts  at  conversion,  however,  were  at  first  rather 
troublesome  than  formidable  to  the  Waldenscs,  and  to 
themselves  rather  embarrassing  than  productive.  But 
more  active  means  were  in  preparation.  The  propaganda 
had  established  itself,  and  the  Piedmontese  Easter  was  at 
hand. 

After  that  terrible  explosion  of  rampant  and  pitiless 
fanaticism,  that  festival  of  blood,  the  massacre  of  1655, 
the  fugitives  who  had  escaped  sought  refuge  with  their 
brethren  in  the  valleys  of  the  Clusone  and  Pragela,  who 
took  up  arms  to  defend  them.  In  his  capacity  of  mode- 
rator of  the  Waldensian  churches,  Leger  now  convoked  a 
synod  at  the  hamlet  of  Capella,  betAveen  the  valley  of 
Dora  and  that  of  Pragela,  where  all  the  surviving  pastors 
and  elders  of  the  devastated  districts  assembled.  It  was 
here  that,  in  two  days,  this  zealous  defender  of  the  valleys 
drew  up  his  first  manifesto,  publishing  to  the  world  the 
inconceivable  cruelties  with  which  the  Waldenses  had  been 
assailed.  The  world  heard  the  appeal,  and  Louis  XIV. 
himself  dared  not  withhold  combining  his  entreaties  with 
those  of  almost  all  the  other  potentates  of  Europe,  to 


OF    P  R  A  G  E  L  A  ,    AND    ADJACENT    VALLEYS.    333 

induce  the  duke  of  Savoy  to  efface,  as  effectually  as  pos- 
sible, the  traces  of  this  atrocious  desolation. 

The  governor  of  Daupliiny  was  ordered  to  receive  the 
exiles  with  humanity,  and  to  provide  for  their  more  press- 
ing wants.  But  it  was  most  especially  from  their  brethren 
of  Pragela,  that  they  received  aid,  asylum,  and  protection. 
The  latter,  themselve3,  were  subjected  to  heavy  trials. 
The  council  of  Pigncrol,  not  content  with  having  procured 
the  prohibition  of  their  worship  throughout  its  territory, 
sought  to  impede  their  industry,  and  obtained  an  order 
(22d  November,  1657)  that  they  should  never  dwell  for 
more  than  three  days  together  in  the  town.  In  April, 
1658,  a  farther  royal  order  was  published,  forbidding  all 
merchants,  traders,  and  innkeepers  in  Pigncrol,  from 
receiving,  lodging,  or  associating  with  any  person  of  the 
protestant  religion.  In  the  same  year  the  votaries  of  Pig- 
ncrol and  of  all  the  French  possessions  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, were  forbidden  to  recognize  in  any  way,  any  sale  or 
bequest  by  a  catholic  in  favour  of  a  protestant.  In  1659, 
the  syndics  of  Pignerol  ordered  all  the  reformers  settled 
in  the  town  to  remove  from  it,  within  eight  days,  and  en- 
joined all  catholics  who  had  relations  with  them,  forthwith 
to  discontinue  them.  A  Jesuit  mission  was  established  at 
Fenestrelle,  in  September,  1659,  and  the  king  prohibited, 
under  the  severest  penalties,  the  least  attempt  to  interfere 
with  their  projects  of  conversion.  The  task  of  the  Chris- 
tians of  Pragela  thus  became  more  difficult ;  but  they  were 
not  wanting  to  their  great  cause,  and  the  efforts  of  their 
adversaries  only  served  to  augment  the  fervour  and  union 
of  these  persecuted  churches. 

The  valley  of  Pragela,  at  the  period  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Jesuits,  was  inhabited,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  by  zeal- 
ous protestants.     "These  heretics,"  wrote  their  adversa- 


334  THE    WALDENSES 

ries,  "  have  ten  or  twelve  great  churches  for  Sunday,  and 
more  than  sixty  small  ones,  where  they  assemble  every 
other  day  of  the  week ;  whereas  the  catholics  have  only 
one  church,  and  a  few  chapels,  far  remote  from  one  an- 
other." By  such  a  population  the  Jesuits  were  naturally 
very  ill-received.  They  could  scarcely  procure  lodging 
for  themselves,  and  indeed,  as  one  of  them  relates,  "  had 
it  not  been  for  the  prior  of  Mentola,  and  captain  Guyot, 
they  would  have  had  no  place  wherein  to  abide,  throughout 
the  valley."  They  persevered,  however,  energetic  in  reso- 
lution, unscrupulous  in  means :  how  unscrupulous,  may  be 
estimated  by  the  following  extracts  from  a  memoir,  ad- 
dressed by  the  Jesuits  to  the  propaganda,  and  still  pre- 
served among  the  royal  archives  at  Turin  (No.  425).  "It 
is  essential  to  obtain  ^  pariatis''^  to  arrest  three  ministers 
of  Pragela,  whom  the  parliament  of  Grenoble  has  con- 
demned to  imprisonment  (for  having  presided  over  their 
religious  meetings)  and  who  have  taken  refuge  in  the  valley 
of  Luzerna  with  two  other  criminals.  The  marquis  de 
Pianeza  must  command  the  governors  of  Luzerna  and  St. 
Martin  to  seize  them,  wherever  they  are  found.  The  peo- 
ple of  Luzerna  must  be  forbidden  to  lodge  the  merchants 
of  Pragela,  who  trade  in  these  parts.  There  are  three 
heretics  gone  to  trade  at  Turin,  and  who  are  lodging  at 
the  Red  Horse  :  it  is  expedient  to  seize  their  merchandize, 
for  as  they  cannot  exist  without  it,  the  probabilities  are, 
that  they  will  be  converted,  if  you  promise  they  shall  have 
their  goods  back.  The  governor  of  Suza,  Meano,  and 
Jalasso,  must  prevent  the  heretics  of  Pragela  from  living 
within  his  jurisdiction,  for  they  preach  their  errors  there 
in  secret.  You  must  expel  from  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  a 
person  named  Martino,  a  native  of  Balboutel  in  Pragela. 
*An  order  to  imprison  at  sight. 


OF   PRALEGA,    AND    ADJACENT   VALLEYS.    335 

This  young  minister  has  succeeded  the  pastor  Leger,  whose 
house  has  been  demolished;  he  is  quite  as  seditious  as  Le- 
ger, and  capable  of  doing  still  more  harm  than  he.  .  .  . 
The  king  of  France  must  have  notice  sent  him  that  the 
secretary  to  the  governor,  and  a  captain  in  the  citadel  of 
Pignerol,  celebrate  the  protestant  religion  in  their  rooms, 
where  they  collect  together  for  that  purpose  a  number  of 
Huguenot  soldiers ;  a  proceeding  that  may  pervert  the 
catholics.  .  .  .  The  Waldenses  of  Pragcla  must  be  forbidden 
to  trade  with  or  to  sojourn  in  Piedmont."  Another  means 
of  conversion,  bribery,  was  also  had  large  recourse  to,  and 
had  some  effect  upon  the  more  impoverished  among  the 
Waldenses.  "  By  the  distribution  of  not  more  than  two 
thousand  crowns,"  writes  Pelisson  Fontanier,  one  of  the 
proselyters,  "  we  have  converted  from  seven  to  eight 
hundred  persons  to  the  Romish  faith.  ...  I  have  sent  word 
that  no  occasion  is  to  be  lost  of  converting  families,  and  I 
have  authorized  their  going  as  high  as  one  hundred  francs  !" 
It  is  well  known  that  a  great  proportion  of  these  "  con- 
verts" were  foreign  vagabonds,  who  passed  themselves  oflf 
as  protestants  in  order  to  secure  these  wages  of  proselytism. 
Another  influence  to  aid  the  catholic  faith,  was  that  of  the 
dragoons,  who  were  billeted,  with  full  license  of  every  kind, 
upon  the  peasantry  who  professed  the  evangelical  faith, 
and  not  withdraAvn  until  a  conversion  was  operated.  The 
governorship  of  the  valley  of  the  Clusone  becoming  vacant, 
the  prince  de  Conti  purchased  the  office,  for  a  sura  of  eight 
thousand  three  hundred  livres,  and  conferred  it  upon  a 
zealous  supporter  of  the  missionaries,  M.  Bertrand,  who 
applied  himself  fervently  to  his  work.  In  order  to  aug- 
ment the  number  of  the  propagandists,  Alexander  VI I. 
granted  (27th  July,  1G61)  plenary  indulgence  to  all  breth- 
ren and  sisters  who  should  join  the  sacred  congregation ; 


336  THE    WALDENSES 

while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  prohibition  to  the  Waklensian 
pastors  to  preach  or  teach  beyond  the  strict  limits  of  their 
assigned  residence  was  rigorously  renewed. 

This  was  not  enough ;  the  members  of  the  Waldcnsian 
church  had  established  daily  prayer  meetings,  even  in  the 
smallest  hamlets,  the  elder,  or  the  chief  elder  of  the  locality 
acting  as  pastor.  There  were  sixty  of  these  chapels,  and 
each  morning  and  evening  the  village  bell  summoned 
thither  the  faithful  to  prayer  and  thanksgiving.  The 
ringing  of  these  bells  was  prohibited :  the  people  then 
made  use  of  the  horns  with  which  they  collected  their 
herds  together  ;  upon  this,  severe  penalties  were  denounced 
against  all  persons  who  should  preside  over  these  meetings; 
the  Christians  assembled  none  the  less  ;  each,  in  his  turn, 
read  passages  of  the  Bible,  in  under  tones,  and  offered  up 
a  prayer  ;  no  one  of  them,  in  special,  had  the  direction  of 
these  pious  and  modest  exercises  ;  the  spirit  of  God  alone 
presided  over  them. 

"  This  race  is  incorrigible,"  cried  the  missionaries  ;  "  we 
cannot  bend  it ;  we  must  look  to  the  rising  generation." 
And  to  this  effect,  they  began  by  forbidding  protestants 
to  keep  schools ;  next,  they  forbade  them  to  bring  up  their 
own  children,  "  We  have  gained  a  great  victory  in  the 
valley  of  Perosa,"  wrote  one  of  the  Jesuits,  in  October, 
1677  ;  "  we  have  obtained  a  decree  that  all  the  children 
hereafter  born  of  Huguenot  mothers  and  catholic  fathers, 
shall  be  baptized  and  brought  up  catholics." 

In  1678,  six  new  popish  cures  were  established  in  the 
valley  of  Pragela,  under  the  direction  and  superintendence 
of  the  prior  of  Mentola.  In  all  these  new  parishes,  the 
deputy-bailiff  read  the  royal  proclamation  which  placed 
the  cures  under  the  especial  protection  of  his  most  Chris- 
tian majesty,  and  prohibited  any  one  from  insulting  them, 


in  any  wny,  under  severe  penalties  ;  and  the  popish  narra- 
tive of  the  proceedings  sets  forth,  -with  great  unction,  a 
list  of  sacred  banners,  sacramental  plate,  chandeliers, 
copes,  crucifixes,  pictures,  money,  &c.,  the  result  of  public 
and  private  subscriptions  throughout  France,  which  were 
bestowed,  with  infinite  formalities,  on  the  installed  clergy. 
The  population  of  the  valleys  stood  far  more  in  need  of 
subscriptions,  for  their  poverty  was  greater  than  ever  : 
"  so  great,"  writes  one  of  the  missionaries,  "  that  we  should 
be  sure  to  convert  a  large  number  of  them,  in  their  dis- 
tress, if  we  had  only  money  enough."  The  unhappy 
Waldenses  aided  each  other  to  the  utmost  of  their  power, 
establishing,  for  awhile,  a  sort  of  community  of  goods, 
and  distributing  supplies  of  food  and  other  necessaries  at 
the  doors  of  the  churches ;  but  all  their  efforts,  with  such 
limited  means,  were  inadequate  to  the  purpose  of  preventing 
distress  of  the  most  overpowering  degree.  All  this  while, 
the  greatest  favours  were  lavished  on  the  catholics,  and, 
especially,  on  the  recent  converts ;  they  were  exempted 
from  various  taxes,  they  were  received  into  the  hospitals 
Avhen  ill,  they  had  distributions  of  money,  clothes,  and 
food,  regularly  administered  to  them,  they  were  relieved 
from  penalties  that  they  might  have  incurred,  their 
daughters  were  promised  dowries.  Yet,  despite  all  these 
disadvantages,  the  evangelical  faith  not  merely  remained 
unsubdued,  but  actually  effected  fresh  triumphs  over 
popery.  This  is  manifest  from  a  decree  of  the  11th  of 
July,  1680,  forbidding  catholics,  under  rigorous  penalties, 
to  embrace  protestantism,  and  protestants  to  receive 
catholics  in  their  churches.  In  July,  1682,  there  was  sent 
forth  an  edict  prohibiting  the  Waldensian  ministers  from 
holding  religious  meetings  anywhere  except  at  the  place 
of  their  own  actual  residence,  under  penalty  of  a  fine  of 
29  W 


338  THE  WALDENSES 

three  thousand  livres,  and  dismissal  from  their  office.  In 
the  follo"\A'ing  August,  a  decree  forbade  laymen  to  assemble 
together,  under  pretext  of  prayer,  reading  the  Bible,  or 
singing  of  psalms,  seeing  that  such  assemblies  might 
become  tumultuous.  The  very  means  of  temporal  exist- 
ence were  taken  away  from  the  Waldenses,  as  an  eflfectual 
mode  of  striking  at  their  spiritual  existence  :  in  this  same 
year,  1682,  the  Waldenses,  by  a  succession  of  prohibitions, 
were  forbidden  to  exercise  any  profession  or  trade,  from 
that  of  lawyer  or  physician  down  to  that  of  shoemaker  or 
washerwoman. 

The  Waldensian  church  of  Pragela,  which  had  preceded 
the  reformed  church  of  France  in  the  path  of  evangelical 
worship,  was  destined  also  to  precede  it  to  the  Calvary  of 
persecution  and  death.  Five  months  before  the  revocation 
of  the  edict  of  Nantes,  by  an  act  of  extreme  and  excep- 
tional severity,  the  exercise  of  the  protestant  religion  was 
expressly  forbidden  throughout  Pragela,  and  all  its  churches 
were  ordered  to  be  demolished.  Special  edicts  applied 
these  revoltingly  arbitrary  orders  to  the  valleys  of  Sezana, 
Oulx,  and  Exili.  The  churches  of  Fenile,  Chaumont,  and 
Salabertrans,  in  the  valley  of  the  Dora,  were  hereupon 
demolished,  as  were  those  of  La  E,ua,  Suchiere,  Fenes- 
trelle,  and  Usseaux,  in  the  valley  of  the  Clusone.  Others 
were  left  standing,  in  order  to  be  converted  into  catholic 
churches,  and  were  used  as  such  for  four  years,  when  they 
also  were  demolished  to  make  way  for  new  edifices.  Among 
these  were  the  churches  of  Villaret  and  Traversa,  the 
house  and  garden  of  which  became  the  glebe  of  the  curd. 
The  materials  of  the  demolished  edifices  were  applied  to 
the  construction  of  popish  chapels ;  a  portion  of  the  con- 
sistorial  lands,  lately  enjoyed  by  the  Waldensian  pastors, 
was  applied  to  the  endowment  of  the  popish  livings,  and 


OF    PKAGELA,    AND    ADJACEXT    VALLEYS.     339 

the  remainder  to  the  establishment  of  t^YO  hospitals,  one 
at  Sestrieres,  and  the  other  at  Fenestrcllc. 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  the  desolation  -which  now  ovcr- 
■whelmed  these  ancient  churches  of  Pragela,  ^Yhich  had  so 
long  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  evangelical  -worship.  The 
Waldenses  -were  plunged  in  inexpressible  depression  and 
anguish.  The  Bible,  -which  had  been  transmitted  from 
father  to  son  amo«g  them,  for  so  many  ages,  was  about  to 
be  taken  from  them  ;  the  pastors  whom  they  had  cherished 
were  already  proscribed,  and  no  man  could  give  them  refuge 
under  the  severest  penalties.  These  worthy  descendants 
of  the  Barbas,  quitted,  in  bitter  sorrow,  their  despairing 
flocks ;  their  eyes,  filled  with  tears,  still  turned  on  the  path 
of  exile,  towards  the  summits,  more  and  more  remote,  of 
their  native  hills,  where  they  had  preached  the  word  of 
God.  A  great  portion  of  their  people  soon  followed  them, 
and  even  many  who  had  been  deemed  converts  to  the 
Romish  church.  On  reaching  Switzerland,  these  exiles 
sent  deputies  to  the  elector  of  Bradenberg,  to  request  an 
asylum  in  his  states :  "  There  are  already,"  they  said, 
"  six  hundred  of  us,  and  in  the  spring  of  next  year  (1686), 
as  many  more  of  our  countrymen  will  expatriate  them- 
selves." 

The  account  of  the  Waldensian  colonies  in  Germany  has 
already  been  given.  We  will  now  inquire  into  the  condi- 
tion of  the  protestants  who  remained  in  the  valleys. 

Le  Tellier,  who  had  been  intendant  in  Piedmont  in 
1640,  recalled  the  Waldenses  to  mind,  half  a  century  after- 
wards, when,  on  his  death-bed,  he  included  them  in  the 
monstrous  provisions  of  the  decree  revoking  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  which,  with  his  dying  hand,  he  signed,  on  the  2'M 
October,  1685.  By  that  revocation,  the  protestant  wor- 
ship was   prohibited   throughout  the  dominions  of  Louia 


340  THE    WALDENSES 

XIV. ;  its  churches  were  ordered  to  be  demolished,  its 
schools  to  be  closed.  Its  ministers,  ^Yho  refused  to  embrace 
Catholicism,  were  to  quit  the  kingdom  -within  fifteen  days, 
while  those  who  consented  to  abjure,  were  to  receive  pen- 
sions one-third  larger  in  amount  than  the  salaries  which 
had  been  paid  them  as  pastors,  half  of  which  pension  was 
to  revert  to  their  widows.  Every  child,  thereafter  born 
within  the  states  of  his  most  christian  majesty,  of  whatever 
parents,  was  to  be  baptized  a  catholic.  All  protestant 
emigrants  were  to  return  under  the  paternal  and  most 
christian  dominion  of  the  French  monarch,  within  four 
months,  under  penalty  of  the  entire  confiscation  of  their 
goods;  and  all  protestants  who  should  hereafter  attempt  to 
emigrate  were  to  be  condemned,  the  men  to  the  galleys, 
and  confiscation  of  goods,  the  women  to  imprisonment  and 
confiscation  of  goods  ;  confiscation  being,  in  all  cases,  a 
leading  feature  in  the  proceedings.  The  "religionists," 
as  the  reformers  were  designated,  were,  by  the  last  clause 
of  the  edict,  permitted  to  remain  in  the  royal  dominions, 
without  practising  any  exercise  of  relic/ion,  until  it  should 
please  God  to  enlighten  them. 

But  what,  to  the  Christian,  is  physical  existence  deprived 
of  all  the  action  of  spiritual  life  ?  The  protestants,  as 
Christians,  prefered  exile  to  the  absence  of  religious  life, 
and  multitudes  of  them  expatriated  themselves  at  this 
epoch,  only  the  very  poorest  remaining  behind.  Two 
thousand  inhabitants  of  Pragela  preceded  or  followed  the 
expulsion  of  their  brethren  from  the  Piedmontcse  valleys  ; 
in  1686  and  1687,  most  of  these  also  returned  to  their 
country,  and  were  installed  there,  pursuant  to  the  decree 
of  Victor  Amadous  in  1692.  What,  meantime,  had  become 
of  those  who  remained  on  the  banks  of  the  Clusone? 

Deprived  not  only  of  pastors,  but  of  the  right  to  hold 


OF  PRAGELA,  AND  ADJACENT  VALLEYS.  341 

any  religious  meeting  among  themselves,  they  did  not  hesi- 
tate regularly  to  cross  the  lofty  mountains  and  deep  val- 
leys ^vhich  separated  them  from  their  co-religionists  in 
Piedmont,  in  order  to  share  with  these  the  service  of  the 
Sabbath.  From  Upper  Pragela  they  repaired  to  Macel 
by  the  Col  de  Pis,  and  from  the  lower  part  of  the  valley 
of  Clusone  to  Pomaret,  at  the  entrance  of  the  valley  of 
St.  Martin.  In  order  to  accomplish  these  pious  pilgrim- 
ages of  edification  and  brotherhood,  they  had  to  depart  on 
the  Saturday  evening,  returning  early  on  the  Monday 
morning,  happy,  amid  all  the  difficulties  and  privations  of 
the  journey,  that  it  afforded  them  at  least  one  opportunity 
in  the  week,  of  meeting  together  in  common  supplication 
and  thanksgiving  to  God. 

Even  prayers  and  exhortations  offered  up  beside  the  bed 
of  the  sick  and  the  dying,  became  matter  of  denunciation 
against  the  protestants.  "  The  other  day,'  wrote  a  popish 
missionary  of  the  time,  "  the  vicar-general  of  the  provostry 
of  Oulx  gave  information  against  John  Challier,  of  Pour- 
rieres,  who  was  surprised,  praying,  after  the  manner  of  the 
protestants,  at  the  bed-side  of  one  Petre  Pastre,  labouring 
under  a  dangerous  malady.  This  is  an  offence  calling  for 
severe  punishment." 

But  even  the  arduous  privilege  of  traversing  the  moun- 
tains to  join  in  prayer  with  their  less  restricted  brethren, 
was  soon  taken  from  the  Waldcnsos  of  Pragela.  The 
tyrant  of  Versailles  wrote  to  his  ambassador  at  the  court 
of  Turin  :  "  The  presence  of  the  Waldenscs  of  Piedmont 
on  the  frontiers  of  my  dominions,  occasions  desertion  on 
the  part  of  my  subjects,  and  you  must  represent  to  their 
prince  that  I  am  resolved  no  longer  to  endure  this."  The 
result  of  this  haughty  assumption  has  been  already  nar- 
rated. The  Waldenses  of  Piedmont,  were  driven,  en  masse, 
29* 


342  THE    WALDENSES 

from  their  native  land ;  and  these  valleys,  the  last  sanc- 
tuary Avherein,  amid  the  Alps,  the  word  of  God  was  heard, 
became  silent  as  the  tomb.  Under  such  terrible  and  reit- 
erated blows,  felling,  with  each  stroke,  a  branch  of  the 
ancient  tree,  utter  destruction  seemed  inevitable.  And 
such,  indeed,  befell  the  valley  of  Pragela,  whose  church 
subsided  and  became  extinct,  as  a  lamp  without  oil.  This 
poor  persecuted  church,  this  spouse  of  Christ,  had  been 
deprived  of  her  temples  and  her  ministers,  of  her  prayers, 
of  her  prayer-men  ;  by-and-by,  the  Romish  church  claimed 
the  secular  possessions,  also,  of  the  fugitive  Waldenses,  and 
Louis  XIV.  readily  granted  the  demand.  The  glebe-lands 
remained ;  these,  too,  in  1688,  were  seized  by  the  spoiler- 
monarch,  and  transferred  to  various  catholic  establish- 
ments. 

In  1684,  and  1686,  two  new  catholic  cures  were  estab- 
lished in  Pragela ;  in  1687,  five  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne 
were  sent  thither  from  Pragela,  to  aid  the  missionaries  in 
effacing,  as  closely  as  possible,  the  still  vivid  traces  of  the 
Reformed  church.  In  1688,  several  new  popish  chapels 
were  built;  and,  in  the  words  of  a  contemporary  publica- 
tion, "  the  catholic  religion  was  making  manifest  progress, 
when,  in  1690,  war  having  been  declared  between  France 
and  Savoy,  a  great  diminution  of  piety  was  observed." 

The  fact  of  the  matter  was,  that  the  Waldenses  of  Pied- 
mont had  returned  to  their  valleys,  and  during  the  terrible 
winter  of  1689,  which  they  passed  at  Balsille,  their  breth- 
ren of  Pragela  frequently  supplied  them  with  provisions, 
themselves  indulging  the  hope  that,  by  the  chances  of  war, 
the  valley  of  Clusone  would  remain  in  the  possession  of 
Victor  Amadeus,  and  be  incorporated  with  the  other  Wal- 
densian  valleys. 

This  prince  invaded  Dauphiny  in  1692.     As  the  result 


OF  PR  A  GEL  A,  AND  ADJACENT  VALLEY?.  343 

of  an  incursion  of  his  troops  into  Pragela,  all  that  portion 
of  the  valley  which  lies  between  Fcnestrelle  and  Perosa 
was  given  up  to  the  flames,  on  the  25th  of  July,  1G03,  and 
four  parishes  were  thus  rendered  uninhabitable.  Their 
population  withdrew,  some  to  Savoy,  others  to  the  Brian- 
connais,  but  most  into  the  Waldcnsian  valleys  of  Luzerna 
and  St.  Martin.  The  latter  there  resumed  the  exercise  of 
the  reformed  religion,  and  despite  every  impediment,  con- 
tinued its  exercises,  favoured  by  the  war,  which  endured 
till  1696. 

By-and-by,  in  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  Turin,  (ISth  Au- 
gust, 160G,)  Louis  XIV.  required  that  Victor  Amadeus 
should  cease  to  give  asylum  and  protection  to  protestants 
of  French  origin.  The  duke,  in  consequence,  issued,  1st 
July,  1698,  the  decree  by  Avhich  all  such  protestants  were 
ordered  to  quit  the  states  of  Savoy  within  two  months. 
The  Waldensian  pastors  were,  in  like  manner,  forbidden 
to  enter  the  territories  of  France,  under  pain  of  ten  years 
labour  in  the  galleys.  We  have  seen  what  vast  misery, 
and  what  vast  migrations,  were  the  result  of  these  severities. 

In  the  countries  rendered  desolate  by  those  migrations, 
the  number  of  catholic  churches  multiplied  in  proportion 
to  the  decrease  of  the  population.  Towards  the  close  of 
1698,  Louis  XIV.  had  two  new  Romish  chapels  built  in 
Pragela,  and  established  eight  new  cures,  in  addition  to 
those  which  he  had  already  endowed  there.  Next,  the 
ardent  and  unscrupulous  zeal  of  the  promoters  of  apostacy 
was  applied  to  the  work  of  furnishing  these  new  parishes 
with  parishioners ;  and,  for  several  years,  popish  mission- 
aries, clerical  and  secular,  high  and  low,  male  and  female, 
spread  themselves  over  the  district,  seeking  to  gain  pro- 
selytes by  promises  and  menaces  of  every  description  and 
degree.     In    1703,    however,    war   once   more  broke  out 


Sl't  THE    WALDENSES 

betAveen  Piedmont  and  France,  and  Victor  Amadeus  II. 
forthwith  issued  a  proclamation  in  which  he  proffered  pro- 
tection and  privilege  to  the  Waldenses  of  the  valleys,  if 
they  would  take  up  arms  against  Louis  XIV.,  and  to  the 
Waldenses  of  Pragela,  if  they  would  join  their  co-reli- 
gionists in  the  struggle.  The  people,  whom  he  had  so 
persecuted,  still  came  forv>'ard  to  defend  him,  and,  ere 
long,  to  give  him  an  asylum.  They  wrested  Upper  Pra- 
gela from  the  dominion  of  France  and  from  the  oppression 
of  the  Romish  church.  They  raised  up  their  prostrated 
altars,  and,  beneath  the  protection  of  their  victorious  arms, 
the  protestant  worship  was  once  more  re-established. 

In  1708,  Victor  Amadeus  having  got  possession  of 
Fenestrelle,  acquired  dominion  over  the  whole  valley  of 
Pragela,  of  which,  theretofore,  he  had  only  possessed  the 
upper  portion.  This  valley  was  hereupon  subjected  to  the 
same  administration  which  already  governed  the  other 
portions  of  the  Waldensian  territory,  and  the  same  governor 
was  assigned  to  them.  The  courts  of  England  and  Hol- 
land at  once  applied  themselves  to  the  procuring  for  the 
protestants  of  Pragela  the  same  privileges  that  were 
enjoyed  by  their  brethren  in  the  other  Waldensian  valleys. 
Queen  Anne  wrote,  with  her  own  hand,  a  letter  on  the 
subject  to  Victor  Amadeus.  This  prince's  reply,  dated 
3d  of  March,  1709,  was  of  the  most  favourable  character; 
but  he  represented  that,  for  various  political  reasons,  it 
was  expedient  to  delay  any  public  proceeding  to  the 
desired  effect,  until  peace  should  be  concluded.  Mean- 
while, in  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  his  good-will  towards  the 
protestants,  he  enjoined  the  popish  ecclesiastics  of  Pragela 
not  to  disturb  the  Waldenses  in  any  way  or  degree,  by 
reason  of  their  doctrines,  and  even  to  permit  those  who 
had  abjured  protestantism  to  resume  it  if  they  so  desired. 


OF    PRALEGA,    AND    ADJACENT    VALLEYS.     345 

Four  months  aftcr^vards,  the  archbishop  of  Turin 
directed  his  subordinates  never  to  put  forward  the  name 
or  the  authority  of  Victor  Amadous,  v,  hen  they  hrul  to  do 
■with  the  heretics. 

There  seemed,  then,  no  obstacle  now  to  tho  re-cstablish- 
mcnt  of  the  Waldensian  church  at  Pragehi.  The  pastors 
of  the  adjacent  valleys  repaired  thither  for  the  celebration 
of  divine  service.  Schools  were  re-opened,  religious  meet- 
ings resumed,  family  worship  once  more  rendered  happy 
the  domestic  hearth,  and  many  of  the  emigrants  returned 
to  their  homes. 

At  the  Waldensian  synod,  held  at  Angrogna,  11th 
November,  1709,  the  deputies  of  Pragcla  presented  them- 
selves, furnished  with  a  commission,  signed  by  the  consuls, 
councillors,  and  more  than  a  hundred  heads  of  families, 
in  the  name  of  all  the  protestants  of  the  valley.  They 
demanded  admission  within  the  body  of  the  "Waldensian 
churches,  which  was  at  once  and  gladly  accorded ;  unity 
of  body  was  with  them  only  a  visible  manifestation  of  that 
unity  of  faith,  which  had  never  ceased  to  exist,  and  it  was 
a  joyful  thing  for  the  various  representatives  of  the  Wal- 
densian church  thus  to  render  testimony  to  the  spiritual 
union  which  had  been  maintained  among  all  the  members 
of  that  church,  despite  political  divisions,  despite  all  the 
cruel  vicissitudes  which  had  agitated  their  country. 

Though  separated,  for  more  than  a  century,  by  the 
sword  and  the  sceptre  of  two  dynasties,  they  now  met 
together  such  as  they  had  been  in  ages  long  past,  for  the 
descent  of  the  evangelical  christians  dates  further  back 
than  the  descent  of  kings. 

Without  possessing  organized  parishes,  the  inhabitants 
of  Pragela  had  now  the  privilege  of  meeting  together  for 
the  celebration   of  their  worship;  and,  as  a  strong  plant, 


.'U6  THE    WALDENSES 

M'hose  branches  are  permitted  to  grow  for  awhile  without 
being  cut,  their  church  made  rapid  progress.  "  We  see 
with  sensible  grief,"  said  the  popish  cures  of  Pragela  in  an 
urgent  memorial  to  the  duke,  "inhabitants  of  this  valley, 
who  had  been  converted,  reverting  furiously  to  heresy,  and 
we  pray  your  lordship  to  put  an  end  to  such  abomina- 
tions." The  royal  council  which  had  been  established  at 
Pignerol,  and  which  had  recently  assumed  the  title  of 
senate,  applied  itself  to  the  restriction  of  a  liberty  so  fatal 
to  popery.  To  this  purpose,  it  proceeded  to  impede  the 
paternal  relations  which  were  being  effected  among  the 
various  Waldensian  valleys  ;  the  ministers  of  the  valley  of 
Luzerna  were  requested  not  to  visit  the  valley  of  Pragela, 
and  the  Pragelans  and  other  French  refugees,  who  had 
settled  in  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  were  ordered  to  quit  that 
valley.  The  pastors,  however,  who  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  political  considerations  which  regulated  the  con- 
duct of  Victor  Amadous,  and  who  rightly  considered  the 
evangelical  Christians  of  Pragela  as  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting portions  of  their  flock,  continued  to  visit  them  when- 
ever they  were  required  so  to  do,  and  the  duties  of  their 
own  special  charge  permitted.  "  On  the  27th  February, 
1709,"  wrote  the  Romish  missionaries,  "  there  came  to 
Pragela  a  heretic  minister  who  perverted  all  the  people.  .  . . 
On  the  23d  March,  M.  Bastia  (pastor  of  La  Torre),  came 
here  and  baptized  three  children  ;  almost  all  the  popula- 
tion were  present." 

The  senate  of  Pignerol,  though  not  vested  with  authority 
to  take  any  repressive  measure  against  the  exercise  of  a 
liberty  sanctioned  by  the  sovereign,  renewed,  by  way  of 
manifesting  its  displeasure,  the  interdiction  of  the  reformed 
worship  in  the  valleys  of  Perosa  and  Pragela.  The  pro- 
testants,  strong  in  their  right,  in  their  convictions,  and  in 


OF    PR  A  GEL  A,    AKD    ADJACENT    V  A  L  I,  K  Y  S  .    347 

the  necessity  to  protest  against  the  tyranny  from  which 
they  had  so  long  and  so  severely  suffered,  replied  to  the 
manifesto  of  the  senate  by  the  most  solemn  act  of  their 
worship,  and  on  the  Tth  April,  1710,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  past  twenty-six  years,  they  proclaimed  at  Usscaux  the 
union  of  their  beloved  churches,  the  communion  of  all 
Waldensian  hearts,  by  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, in  which  participated  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  valleys, 
fused  in  one  sole  family,  with  those  of  the  Dora  and  the 
Clusone. 

The  catholic  clergy  of  the  latter  valleys  addressed  to  the 
senate  of  Pignerol  (28th  May,  1710)  a  manifesto  concern- 
ing the  disobedience  of  the  Waldcnscs  to  the  interdiction 
which  had  been  directed  against  them,  accompanied  with 
an  opinion,  drawn  up  by  some  lawyers  of  the  party,  that 
the  Waldenses  of  Pragela  were  not  legally  entitled  to  lib- 
erty of  conscience.  "  His  royal  highness,"  said  the  law- 
yers, "  promised,  in  the  treaty  of  21st  January,  1704,  and 
by  the  preceding  convention  of  Utrecht,  that  the  protest- 
ants  who  had  emigrated  from  Pragela,  might  return  thither 
and  exercise  their  religion  as  freely  as  they  had  done  be- 
fore they  quitted  the  valley ;  the  same  privilege  being 
granted  to  all  other  persons  of  the  religion  who  might  settle 
there,  on  the  condition  that  none  of  them  should  attempt, 
in  any  manner  to  divert  the  catholics  from  their  religion, 
or  to  do  them  any  harm.  "  Now  these  protestants  of  Pra- 
gela quitted  that  valley,  precisely  because  their  worship 
was  interdicted  there.  They  had  not,  then,  liberty  of  con- 
science before  they  quitted  it ;  in  the  terms  of  the  treaty, 
liberty  of  conscience  should  therefore  be  withdrawn  from 
them."  In  consequence  of  these  proceedings,  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  by  way  of  arriving  at  an  estimate  of  the  importance 
the  protestants  of  Pragela,  required  from  them  a  state- 


348  THE    WALDENSES 

ment,  in  detail,  of  their  numbers,  and  of  the  amount  of 
their  property.  The  return  made  to  this  requisition  shoAv- 
ing  that  their  numbers  and  property  were  not  such  as  to 
make  them  formidable,  the  vexations  recommenced.  The 
Dutch  ambassador  complaining  of  this,  the  marquis  di  San 
Tommaso,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  replied  that  the  Wal- 
denses  were  turbulent  rebels,  who  were  treated  with  far 
more  consideration  than  they  deserved.  Soon  after  this, 
they  were  commanded  to  observe  the  catholic  festivals,  and 
in  every  way  the  propagandists  resumed  their  work  of 
oppression.  All  assemblages  of  more  than  twelve  persons 
were  prohibited,  and  next,  the  public  exercise  of  the  pro- 
testant  religion  was  interdicted  throughout  Pragela.  The 
English  ministry,  who  had  been  favourable  to  the  Wal- 
denses,  had  meanwhile  gone  out  of  office,  and,  amidst  more 
absorbing  political  events,  the  interests  of  the  Waldenses 
were  set  aside  by  the  protestant  powers.  By  an  arrange- 
ment with  Louis  XIV.,  Victor  Amadeus,  at  the  same  time, 
succeeded  in  acquiring  the  valley  of  Pragela,  on  condition 
of  extirpating  protestantism  from  the  district,  while  by  the 
further  exchange  of  the  valley  of  Barcelonnette  for  the 
county  of  Nice,  he  deprived  England  of  the  sole  ground 
upon  which  she  should  claim  a  right  to  intervene  on  the 
frontiers  of  Italy. 

Thus  was  the  religious  future  of  a  whole  people  sac- 
rificed, by  political  machinations,  to  the  ambition  of  po- 
pery. The  treaty  of  Utrecht  was  signed  on  the  11th 
April,  1713.  Towards  the  close  of  the  preceding  month, 
Victor  Amadeus  had  manifested  towards  the  Waldenses 
the  most  favourable  disposition  ;  but,  the  treaty  concluded, 
the  monarch  assumed  towards  the  unhappy  protestants  an 
altogether  changed  aspect,  and  repairing,  for  the  purpose 
of  being   crowned,  to   Sicily,  Avhere  he  remained  till  the 


OF    P  R  A  G  E  L  A  ,    AND    ADJACENT    VALLEYS,    349 

middle  of  1714,  he  left  the  enemies  of  the  Waldenses  full 
time  and  opportunity  to  destroy  the  church  of  Pragcla. 
First,  the  intendant  Pavia  ordered  that,  for  the  future,  no 
Waldensian  schoolmaster  should  be  instituted  without  the 
consent  and  approbation  of  the  catholic  clergy;  next, 
several  schoolmasters,  already  instituted,  were  summarily 
expelled ;  then,  the  protestant  councils,  syndics,  and  other 
magistrates  of  the  Valley,  were  replaced  by  catholic  mag- 
istrates ;  and  by-and-by,  in  May,  1714,  the  commandant 
of  Perosa  entered  Pragela  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  troops, 
forced  open,  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  the  houses  of  the 
leading  Waldenses,  and  seizing  the  heads  of  these  families 
in  their  beds,  loaded  them  with  chains,  and  carried  them 
olF  as  prisoners  to  Fenestrelie.  The  English  ambassador 
at  the  court  of  Turin  made  hereupon  strong  representa- 
tions, in  the  name  of  his  own  sovereign,  and  in  that  of 
Frederick  William  of  Prussia,  and  these  representations 
had,  for  awhile,  the  effect  of  modifying  the  tyranny  prac- 
tised upon  the  unfortunate  Pragelans ;  but  it  was  only  for 
av.hile;  in  all  directions  the  pastors,  the  elders  of  the  Wal- 
densian communes,  were  seized,  imprisoned,  fined,  com- 
pelled to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  arbitrary  persecutions 
conducted  against  them,  or,  in  default  of  payment,  stripped 
of  all  their  little  possessions.  The  schools  were  closed ;  all 
private  meetings  for  prayer,  of  more  than  ten  persons, 
interdicted,  under  a  penalty  of  ten  gold  crowns  for  each 
offence  ;  they  were  forbidden  to  work  on  catholic  festivals  ; 
and  finally,  on  the  6th  of  February,  1710,  came  a  decree 
prohibiting  the  celebration  of  the  reformed  worship  in  any 
shape  whatever,  and  commanding  that  all  future  children, 
born  of  Waldensian  parents,  should  within  six  hours  after 
their  birth,  be  baptized  as  catholics.  To  avoid  this  intol- 
erable injustice,  recourse  was  had  to  emigration,  a  fresh 
3U 


350  THE  WALDENSES. 

band  departing  after  each  fresh  act  of  depression,  until 
the  Waldenscs  of  Pragela  disappeared  from  their  valley,  as 
snow  from  the  mountain. 

The  great  blow  of  all  was  the  edict  of  the  20th  of  June, 
1730,  promulgated  under  the  designation  of  Instructions 
with  respect  to  the  Waldenses.  Under  this  edict,  all  per- 
sons born  in  the  Romish  church,  or  who  had  abjured  protest- 
antism, for  whatever  motive,  and  who  had  since  returned 
to  the  reformed  church,  were  condemned  to  death,  unless 
they  again  reverted  to  Catholicism,  within  six  months,  or 
quitted  the  country.  The  inhabitants  of  Pragela,  Sala- 
bertrans,  Bardoneche,  and  Chateau  Dauphin,  were  all  to 
be  taken  as  being  catholics,  without  reference  to  their  own 
opinions,  and  no  other  religion  than  the  Romish  was  to 
be  permitted  in  any  shape  or  degree,  in  these  valleys.  All 
French  protestants  who,  since  1698,  had  settled  in  the 
Waldensian  valleys,  were  to  quit  them  within  six  months, 
never  again  to  re-enter  them,  under  pain  of  a  public  whip- 
ping for  the  first  oifence,  and  of  five  years'  labour  in  the 
galleys  for  the  second.  After  the  promulgation  of  this 
edict,  the  number  of  the  Waldenses  who  expatriated  them- 
selves became  so  great,  that  the  government  grew  alarmed, 
and  endeavoured  to  take  measures  for  retaining  the  popu- 
lation ;  but  it  was  to  no  purpose ;  before  the  end  of  the 
year,  more  than  eight  hundred  protestants  had  quitted  the 
Waldensian  valleys  for  Holland,  Switzerland,  and  Ger- 
many ;  the  few  who  remained  in  Piedmont  were  compelled 
to  accept  the  public  profession  of  Catholicism. 


Clia|itrc  (Cljirtii-firiit. 


MODERN    HISTORY    OF    THE    W  A  1, 1)  E  X  S  E  S  . 

From  1730  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
Waldenses  experienced  various  changes  of  fortune,  which 
our  limits  do  not  allow  us  to  dwell  upon.  Near  the  close  of 
the  century,  they  are  found  mixed  up  in  the  general  con- 
flict of  the  European  powers,  consequent  upon  the  French 
revolution.  One  of  the  incidents  connected  with  this  part 
of  their  history  is  worthy  of  notice,  for  the  atrocious  con- 
spiracy that  was  plotted  against  them,  and  the  memorable 
deliverance  which  they  experienced. 

In  1793,  Victor  Amadeus  III.,  now  king  of  Sardinia, 
having  joined  Austria  in  the  war  against  France,  armed 
the  Waldenses,  and  entrusted  to  them  the  guardianship  of 
their  own  frontier,  under  general  Gaudin.  Papal  fanati- 
cism conceived  the  idea  of  a  second  St.  Bartholomew 
against  the  protestant  families  thus  deprived  of  their 
natural  protectors,  who  were  occupied,  at  a  distance  from 
home,  in  the  defence  of  their  country.  The  plan  contem- 
plated no  less  than  the  massacre  of  the  entire  protestant 
population.  The  execution  of  this  plot  was  fixed  for  the 
night  of  the  14th  May,  1793.  The  list  of  conspirators 
contained  more  than  seven  hundred  names.  A  column  of 
assassins,  assembled  at  Luzerna,  was,  at  a  preconcerted 
signal,  to   spread  themselves   over  the  communes  of  Saa 


852  THE    WALDENSES. 

Giovanni  and  La  Torre,  and  put  all  to  lire  and  sword. 
The  house  of  the  cure  of  La  Torre,  his  church,  the  convent 
of  the  Recollets,  and  some  other  catholic  houses  in  the 
place,  -were  filled  with  cut-throats,  alike  ready  for  pillage 
and  murder.  But  there  were  also  generous  catholics,  who 
had  refused  to  join  this  odious  conspiracy. 

Signer  Odetti  was  a  captain  of  the  Piedmontese  militia, 
then  embodied,  and  acting  against  the  French  invaders, 
and  a  little  before  the  fatal  blow  was  to  have  been  struck, 
he  had  been  invited  to  join  the  conspirators  in  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  Waldenses.  Signer  Odetti  was  a  rigid  Roman- 
ist, and  it  was  expected  that  the  well-known  severity  of 
his  principles  would  induce  him  to  sanction  any  measure 
for  the  destruction  of  heresy.  The  cure  of  Luzerna,  M. 
Brianza,  was  also  admitted  into  the  secret  ;  but  these  two 
worthy  men  had  too  much  of  the  real  spirit  of  Christianity 
even  to  conceal,  and  much  less  to  join  in  the  plot.  Bri- 
anza sent  a  private  messenger  to  La  Torre,  to  apprise  the 
inhabitants  of  their  danger,  but  did  not  succeed  in  putting 
them  sufficiently  upon  their  guard.  Odetti,  knowing  that 
the  hour  of  action  was  so  near  that  nothing  but  very 
prompt  measures  could  frustrate  the  sanguinary  design, 
set  out  from  Cavour  himself,  which  is  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Pelice,  and  at  some  distance  from  La  Torre,  and  has- 
tened to  his  friend,  to  give  him  the  alarming  information. 
"I  am  afraid,"  said  he,  "that  I  am  too  late  to  prevent 
bloodshed.  There  is  a  conspiracy  against  you.  The 
assassins  are  even  now  on  foot ;  but  if  I  cannot  save  you, 
I  will  perish  with  you.  The  honour  of  my  religion  is  at 
stake;  I  must  justify  it  by  sharing  your  danger." 

The  consternation  in  La  Torre  was  beyond  all  descrip- 
tion at  the  horrible  intelligence,  which  was  now  spread 
from  house  to  house,  and  every  habitation  soon   assumed 


THEIR    MODERN    HISTORY.  353 

the  appearance  of  hopeless  terror.  The  \vindows  were 
closed  and  barred,  and  piles  of  stones  ^Ycre  collected  to 
hurl  down  upon  the  heads  of  the  assailants;  but  aged 
men,  and  women,  and  children,  were  the  only  persons  left 
to  use  them.  The  strength  and  flower  of  the  population 
were  eight  or  nine  miles  oft",  and  occupied  in  defending 
the  mountain  passes  against  the  French.  Scarcely  a  man 
who  could  bear  arms  was  away  from  this  loyal  duty ;  and 
yet  this  was  the  moment  at  which  no  less  than  seven  hun- 
dred bigoted  monsters  had  sworn  to  exterminate  all  the 
protestants  of  the  valley  of  Luzerna,  and  to  spread  mur- 
der and  devastation  from  San  Giovanni  to  Bobbi. 

JSTot  an  instant  was  to  be  lost ;  the  day  was  already 
arrived  when  captain  Odctti  gave  the  information,  and  at 
sunset  the  murderers  were  to  begin  to  assemble. 

The  only  chance  of  safety  consisted  in  sending  notice 
of  the  plot  to  General  Gaudin,  a  Swiss  Officer,  who  com- 
manded the  Piedmontese  troops  on  the  nearest  frontier. 
That  brave  man  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  messenger,  be- 
cause ho  could  not  believe  in  the  existence  of  so  base  a 
conspiracy.  Another  and  another  messenger  arrived,  but 
with  no  better  success.  At  length  several  fugitives  made 
their  appearance  from  La  Torre  ;  the  dreadful  news  reached 
the  Waldensian  soldiers  themselves,  and,  in  a  state  of  the 
utmost  apprehension  for  the  lives  of  their  families,  they 
insisted  upon  being  despatched  to  their  succour.  The 
general  became  sensible  of  his  error,  but  not  in  time  to 
give  him  hopes  of  being  able  to  preserve  the  innocent  vic- 
tims. The  day  was  wearing  away,  the  fatal  hour  was 
named  in  which  the  work  of  blood  was  to  commence,  and 
nothing  but  extraordinary  speed  could  possibly  enable  a 
detachment  to  reach  the  spot  before  it  began.  To  repair 
his  unfortunate  error,  the  general  commanded  the  brigade 
30*  X 


354  THE     WALDENSES. 

of  Waldenses  to  march  instantly,  and  followed  himself  with 
another  division. 

The  w^retched  husbands  and  fathers  pursued  their  way 
in  almost  frantic  desperation.  The  imminent  danger  of 
their  wives  and  children  rendered  any  regularity  of  march 
out  of  the  question  ;  they  precipitated  themselves  down 
steeps  which  they  would  have  shuddered  to  encounter  upon 
any  other  occasion,  urged  each  other  on  with  wild  shouts, 
and  prayed  aloud  to  Heaven  to  give  them  additional  speed. 
As  they  advanced  on  the  road,  they  were  repeatedly  met 
by  parties  of  distracted  women  and  frightened  children, 
sent  forward  from  La  Torre  to  hasten  their  pace.  Many 
of  these,  in  their  terror  and  despair  assured  them,  that 
they  were  too  late:  that  the  business  of  death  was  even 
then  proceeding. 

With  breathless  haste,  and  in  a  state  of  excruciating 
suspense,  they  hurried  on.  The  shades  of  evening  fell 
with  increasing  darkness,  and  with  them  a  storm  of  rain 
that  brought  the  torrents  down  the  mountains,  and  threat- 
ened to  impede  their  further  advance.  They  began  to  ac- 
cuse Providence  of  beino;  leagued  against  them.  The 
waters  poured  down  from  the  heights  in  such  accumulated 
violence,  that  it  was  almost  madness  to  prosecute  their 
march  ;  nothing  but  desperation  could  have  prompted  them 
to  go  on.  The  last  torrent  that  they  had  to  pass  was 
rushing  with  unusual  impetuosity,  but  they  dashed  through 
it  in  safety,  and  in  a  few  minutes  after  arrived  within  sight. 
of  La  Torre.  At  the  same  moment  they  heard  the  tolling 
of  the  vesper  bell  of  the  convent  of  the  Recollets ;  this, 
they  had  been  told,  was  to  be  the  fatal  signal  for  the  assas- 
sins to  sally  forth. 

The  unhappy  men  felt  that  they  were  too  late.  "  We 
will  revenge,"  they  cried,  "if  wo  cannot  prevent!" — and 


T  II  K  I  R    MODERN    HISTORY.  355 

their  speed  was  not  abated.  They  rushed  into  the  street 
of  the  village ;  the  tramp  of  their  feet,  and  the  clangour 
of  their  arms,  were  heard  within  the  houses;  and,  to  the 
unutterable  joy  of  these  gallant  deliverers,  hundreds  of 
voices  were  raised  to  welcome  and  bless  their  appearance. 

The  arm  of  God  had  done  that  which  man's  could  not 
do.  The  time  was  not  enough  to  allow  of  the  arrival  of 
the  AValdenses,  before  the  signal  was  to  have  been  given 
for  the  conspirators  to  put  themselves  in  action ;  but  the 
rain-storm,  and  the  violence  of  the  torrents,  which  had  no 
terrors  for  men  advancing  in  a  good  cause,  had  alarmed  and 
stopped  the  murderers.  Many  of  those  who  should  have 
arrived  at  the  rendezvous  had  not  reached  it,  and  those 
who  were  there  dared  not  move  forward  upon  this  san- 
guinary enterprise  until  their  numbers  were  increased. 

Considering  the  violent  state  of  excitement  to  which  the 
passions  of  the  Waldensian  soldiery  were  raised,  it  is  na- 
tural to  suppose  that,  surrendering  themselves  up  to  the 
feelings  of  the  moment,  they  wreaked  their  vengeance 
upon  the  most  criminal,  at  least,  of  their  enemies.  But 
no;  not  a  drop  of  blood  was  spilt.  Satisfied  with  the 
preservation  of  their  friends,  they  were  guilty  of  no  vio- 
lence upon  the  persons  or  property  of  any  of  the  papists 
who  were  accomplices  in  the  plot.  The  assassins  escaped 
in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  the  Waldenses  took  no 
other  steps  towards  their  chastisement,  than  to  forward  a 
list  of  the  conspirators  to  the  government,  who  made  no 
inquiry  into  the  matter,  and  suffered  them  to  go  unpun- 
ished. 

In  1799,  Suwarrow  invaded  Piedmont  at  the  head  of  a 
Russian  army.  In  a  threatening  proclamation,  addressed 
to  the  Waldenses,  he  reproached  them  with  fostering  tiie 
French,  the   enemies   of  public  tranquillity.     "  The  old 


356  THEAVALDENSES. 

attacliment  of  your  ancestors  to  Christian  tenets,"  he 
said,  "  has  procured  for  you  the  protection  of  England. 
The  French  declare  themselves  hostile  to  that  power ;  and 
that  power,  your  benefactress,  is  it  not  now  our  ally  ?" 
Already  the  Russian  troops  had  arrived  at  Pignerol.  "  On 
the  3d  of  June,  1799,"  says  Appia,  in  his  memoirs,  "fore- 
seeing that  the  enemy  would  appear  in  great  numbers 
towards  Luzerna,  I  rose  at  the  break  of  day ;  but  before 
I  was  dressed,  the  Cossacks  were  already  dashing  about 
the  streets  of  La  Torre,  uttering  fearful  hurrahs. 

"  My  colleagues  were  absent ;  the  invaders  had  already 
begun  to  pillage  the  houses ;  Pierre  Vole  defended  his 
against  them.  I  shuddered  at  the  idea  of  presenting  my- 
self to  three  or  four  hundred  furious  men,  who,  perhaps, 
could  not  comprehend  what  I  had  to  say.  '  M.  Appia, 
take  care,'  said  a  catholic  who  met  me;  'you  have  your 
tricoloured  cockade  still  on.'  I  thanked  him  for  his  sug- 
gestion, and  substituted  a  piece  of  white  paper  for  the 
dangerous  cockade ;  I  then,  praying  God  to  aid  me,  and 
hoping  to  be  useful  to  my  country,  directed  my  steps 
towards  the  Cossacks.  They  had  just  massacred  eight  of 
Zimmerman's  hussars.  My  heart  trembled,  as  if  it  were 
hanging  by  a  thread  ;  I  advanced  towards  the  officer  who 
seemed  to  be  the  chief  in  rank.  '  What  do  you  want,  and 
who  are  you  ?'  said  he  to  me,  in  German. 

"  'I  am  a  magistrate  here,'  replied  I,  '  and  my  name 
is  Appia.  What  do  you  require  of  the  inhabitants  of  La 
Torre  V 

"  '  That  they  lay  down  their  arms,  and  surrender  all  the 
French  they  have  in  their  hands.' 

"  'No  one  is  armed.     The  French  are  gone.' 

"  '  Do  you  answer  for  the  truth  of  your  words  V 

"  '  Yes,  sir.' 


THEIR    MODERN    HISTORY.  357 

"  '  In  that  case,  I  will  sound  a  retreat.' 

"  He  did  so,  and  I  then  began  to  search  for  my  col- 
leagues. The  first  two  I  saw  had  been  afraid  to  come  out, 
because  they  had  heard  that  they  were  going  to  put  the 
'own  to  fire  and  sword.  I  re-assured  them,  and  we  set 
out  together  for  San  Giovanni.  Arrived  there,  we  met 
three  patrols  of  troops,  whom  we  could  not  make  to  under- 
stand us.  At  this  moment  an  officer  appeared  on  the 
bridge.  We  waved  a  white  handkerchief  to  him ;  he  an- 
swered in  the  same  manner,  and  we  advanced  towards 
him.  He  told  us  to  join  him  at  Luzerna,  at  the  house  of 
colonel  Worsach.  We  went  there ;  he  received  us  very 
courteously.  After  I  had  put  some  requests,  which  he 
immediately  granted,  he  said  to  us  : — '  Gentlemen,  return 
to  your  houses,  tell  the  inhabitants  to  be  tranquil,  and  to 
resume  their  labours  without  fear.' 

"  I  begged  him  to  give  me  this  order  in  writing. 

" '  Go  and  write  it,  and  I  will  affix  my  signature.' 

"  We  entered  the  house  of  the  cure,  where  avc  wrote  the 
order ;  but  the  colonel  was  already  on  horseback  ;  we 
hastened  to  carry  it  to  him,  and  he  signed  it  on  the  pom- 
mel of  his  saddle.  I  asked  him  for  authority  to  establish 
patrols,  to  protect  us  from  pillage. 

"  '  Go,'  replied  he,  '  all  that  you  will  do  will  be  done 
well.'  And  he  added  this  authorization  to  the  note  he  had 
signed. 

"  He  had  spoken  to  us  partly  in  Latin,  and  partly  in 
German. 

"  We  set  out,  very  much  gratified  with  the  results  of 
our  mission,  and  immediately  established  a  special  guard 
in  each  Waldensian  commune." 

On  the  arrival  of  prince  Bagration  at  Pignerol,  a  depu- 
tation of  the  Waldenses  waited  upon  him,  with  the  sub- 


358  THE      WALDENSES. 

mission  of  their  valleys.  They  were  most  kindly  received 
by  him,  and,  the  next  day,  presented  to  Smvarrow. 

"  At  the  appointed  hour,"  writes  Appia,  one  of  the 
deputation,  "  we  Avere  introduced  in  the  dining-room ; 
we  saw  a  little  old  man  enter  in  a  white  jacket,  a  la 
Neyserlitz,  white  breeches,  a  little  leathern  cap  on  his 
head,  and  with  short,  soft  boots  that  fell  down  over  his 
heels ;  ...  it  was  the  marshal.  The  count  took  me  by 
the  hand,  and  presented  me.  I  was  about  to  repeat  the 
act  of  submission,  but  he  said  to  me,  '  That  is  not  neces- 
sary;  I  know  it  all :'  he  then  embraced  me,  pronouncing 
these  words — Pace,  amieizia,  e  fratellanza. 

"A  servant  then  brought  him  a  large  glass  full  of  raw 
brandy,  which  he  drank  off  at  once.  The  same  servant 
then  brought  in  a  dish,  on  which  were  a  dozen  great  rad- 
ishes, with  salt  and  oil.  He  crunched  half  a  dozen  of 
these  between  his  hard  gums,  as  though  he  had  young 
teeth,  and  then  coming  up  to  me,  put  three  into  my  hand, 
and  had  a  glass  of  brandy  brought  for  me.  When  we  had 
eaten  our  radishes,  he  asked  us — '  Gentlemen,  of  what 
religion  are  you  ?  Do  you  say  tliou  or  you  to  God  V  We 
gave  him  an  outline  of  our  faith,  and  he  then  turned  to  an 
old  Danish  general,  and  said,  '  Pray  for  these  gentlemen.' 
The  general  clasped  his  hands,  and  began  a  prayer  with 
infinite  unction  ;  but  he  did  not  please  the  marshal,  who 
stopped  him,  and  himself  recited  one,  Avhich  the  Danish 
general  repeated  after  him,  Avord  for  word.  This  singular 
scene  at  an  end,  we  all  AA'ent  to  breakfast,  and  after  it  the 
marshal  sent  count  Zuccati  Avith  us  to  the  president  of  the 
council,  and  by  this  intervention  we  procured  the  guarantee 
for  the  safety  of  our  valley  which  we  had  sought." 

When  Napoleon,  in  1805,  went  to   INIilan,  to   place  on 


THEIR    MODERN    HISTORY.  350 

liis   brow  the  iron   cro^vn,  ho  received  at   Turin  a  depu- 
tation from  tlic  AValdcnsian  Table. 

Buonaparte  noticed  M.  Peyrani,  the  head  of  the  depu- 
tation, immediately,  and  accosted  him  in  a  style  of  unusual 
condescension,  and  even  respect. 

iV.     You  are  one  of  the  protestant  clergy  ? 

P.  Yes,  sire,  and  the  moderator  of  the  Waldensian 
church. 

i\r.  You  are  schismatics  from  the  Koman  church  ? 

P.  Not  schismatics,  I  hope,  but  separatists  from  scru- 
ples of  conscience,  on  grounds  that  we  consider  to  be 
scriptural. 

iV.  You  have  had  some  brave  men  among  you.  But 
your  mountains  arc  the  best  ramparts  you  can  have. 
C^sar  found  some  trouble  in  passing  your  defiles  with 
five  legions.  Is  Arnaud's  "La  Rcntrde  Gloricuse"  cor- 
rect ? 

P.  Yes,  sire,  believing  our  people  to  have  been  assisted 
by  Providence. 

iV.  How  long  have  you  formed  an  independent  church  ? 

P.  Since  the  time  of  Claude,  bishop  of  Turin,  about 
the  year  820. 

If.  W ha-t  stipends  have  your  clergy  ? 

P.  We  cannot  be  said  to  have  any  fixed  stipends  at 
present. 

iV".  You  used  to  have  a  pension  from  England  ? 

P.  Yes,  sire,  the  kings  of  Great  Britain  were  always 
our  benefactors  and  protectors  till  lately.  The  royal 
pension  is  now  withheld,  because  we  are  your  majesty's 
subjects. 

iV.  Are  you  organized  ? 

P.  No,  sire. 


360  THE    WALDENSES. 

iV.  Draw  out  a  memorial,  and  send  it  to  Paris.  You 
shall  be  organized  immediately. 

The  memorial  ■was  sent,  but  it  was  only  after  long 
delays,  on  Napoleon's  return  to  Paris,  that  without  wait- 
ing for  the  inquiry  into  the  national  property  with  which 
the  Waldenses  had  been  endowed  by  the  executive  com- 
mission, he  confirmed  for  the  Waldensian  pastors  the  dota- 
tion they  had  received,  without  prejudice  to  the  salary 
allowed  them  by  the  state.  At  the  same  time  he  signed 
the  imperial  decree  of  the  sixth  of  Thermidor,  year  XIII. 
(25th  July,  1805),  by  which  their  churches  were  formed 
into  three  consistories :  one  at  La  Torre,  another  at  Pa- 
rustin,  and  a  third  at  Villa  Secca. 

There  is  nothing  further  to  call  for  comment  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Waldenses  under  the  sway  of  Napoleen.  The 
regular  march  of  the  government  and  the  impartial  obser- 
vance of  the  laws  pursued  their  course,  without  any  remark- 
able incident. 

In  April,  1814,  Victor  Emanuel  IV.  regained  the  scep- 
tre of  Piedmont ;  he  had  been  king  since  1802,  but  had 
not  yet  reigned.  An  English  fleet  had  gone  to  Sardinia 
to  convey  him  from  exile  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors. 
The  Waldenses  thought  it  expedient  to  send  a  deputation 
to  Genoa  to  receive  him  on  his  landing.  Accordingly,  the 
pastors  and  mayors  of  all  the  communes  assembled  at  Roc- 
capiatta  on  the  4th  May,  1814. 

The  deputies,  Messrs.  Appia  and  Peyrani,  went  to 
Genoa,  and  sought  to  obtain  an  interview  with  general 
Bentinck,  commander  of  the  British  forces  ;  but,  not  being 
successful,  they  referred  their  request  to  his  banker  and 
to  the  reverend  ]\Ir.  Wennock,  chaplain  of  the  British 
forces,  who  took  a  warm  interest  in  their  case.  The 
request  was  simply  that  the  king  would  treat  the  Walden- 


THEIR    MODERN    HISTORY.  361 

ses  as  favourably  as  his  other  subjects ;  but  Victor  Ema- 
nuel, so  far  from  complying  with  a  request  recommeniled 
by  the  representative  of  the  great  and  generous  nation 
Avhich  had  just  restored  him  to  his  throne,  on  his  return  to 
Turin  issued  an  edict  Avhich  revived  all  the  ancient  intoler- 
ant and  exclusive  measures  against  the  Waldenses.  By 
this  edict,  the  injunction  to  lay  aside  all  work  on  catholic 
festival  days ;  the  prohibition  to  acquire  property  beyond 
the  valleys ;  the  interdiction  of  all  civil  public  employ- 
ments ;  the  obligation  to  have  in  their  communal  councils 
a  catholic  majority  ;  and  many  other  vexatious  measures, 
were  renewed. 

The  "Waldenses  sent  a  deputation  to  Turin,  to  endeavour 
to  procure  the  revocation  of  the  decree.  The  deputation 
was  received  on  the  28th  May,  1814.  "  I  will  grant  the 
Waldenses  all  I  can,"  replied  the  king.  His  intentions 
were  x^rj  good,  but  the  catholic  clergy  prevailed.  The 
lands  granted  to  the  Waldensian  pastors  by  Napoleon  were 
resumed  by  the  masters  of  its  sovereign  and  foes  of  the 
Waldenses.  The  church  which  the  Waldenses  had  built 
at  San  Giovanni  was  closed,  and  they  were  obliged  to 
celebrate  their  religious  services  in  the  ruined  church  of 
Chiabasso,  built  on  the  confines  of  Angrogna. 

The  sole  result  of  this  second  deputation  was  a  roijal 
patent,  Avhich  confirmed  the  indulgences  they  had  enjoyed 
before  1794.  The  deprivation  of  the  resources  on  which 
the  salary  of  their  pastors  depended,  and  the  new  impe- 
diments in  the  way  of  their  worship,  obliged  them  to  have 
recourse  once  more  to  their  sovereign. 

The  principal  object  of  this  third  deputation  was  to  claim 
the  use  of  the  church  of  San  Giovanni.  The  king  declined 
-nvincr  an  immediate  answer,  but  manifested  favourable 

intentions. 
31 


362  THE    WALDENSES. 

The  deputation  then  obtained  an  interview  with  the 
British  ambassador,  who  promised  to  interest  himself  in 
their  behalf.  Meantime,  the  congress  of  Vienna  had  com- 
menced its  sittings.  The  Waldensian  Board  drew  up  a 
memorial,  but,  fearing  to  annoy  a  monarch  whom  they 
believed  to  be  generous,  forbore  to  issue  it.  This  monarch 
had  less  consideration  for  them.  A  manifesto  was  pub- 
lished on  the  4th  January,  1815,  to  put  in  force  all  the 
ancient  laws  against  them.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Wal- 
denses  renewed  their  representations :  they  were  more 
severely  oppressed. 

The  ancient  edicts,  however,  which  were  now  again  in 
force,  were  still  more  rigid ;  and  it  was  considered  an 
indulgence  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  limit  itself  to 
the  edicts  it  had  issued. 

Napoleon,  returned  from  Elba  to  Paris,  with  the  daring 
resolve  to  regain  the  throne  by  his  sole  presence,  had, 
in  two  months,  levied  more  than  four  hundred  thousand  men. 

It  was  thought  that  the  Waldenses,  considering  the  lib- 
erties they  had  acquired  from  the  emperor,  and  the  oppres- 
sions they  had  suffered  from  Victor  Emanuel  IV.  Avould 
take  part  with  Napoleon. 

The  moderator  of  the  valleys  sent  a  despatch  to  them, 
advising  them  how  to  act :  he  prayed  them  to  show  that 
they  were  descended  from  those  ancient  Waldenses  Avho, 
though  sometimes  ill-treated,  did  not  allow  the  faults  of 
their  superiors  to  make  them  forget  to  rush  to  their  suc- 
cour in  time  of  need ;  and  expressed  the  hope,  that  the 
king,  in  consideration  of  the  wisdom  of  their  conduct  and 
of  their  attachment  to  his  royal  person,  would  give  the 
Waldenses  unequivocal  proofs  of  his  attachment  and  pater- 
nal care.  This  hope  was  far  from  being  realized  ;  but  the 
fidelity  of  the  Waldenses  was  not  shaken,  and  their  good 


THEIR    M  0 1)  K  R  X    II  I  S  T  0  R  V  .  ;^,G:] 

conduct  -was  a  permanent  protest  against  the  perfidious 
insinuations  that  were  made  against  them.  The  govern- 
ment had  announced  their  intention  to  take  from  the  Wal- 
denses  all  the  property  -which  they  had  held  under  tiic 
French  administration,  in  order  to  restore  it  to  the  catholic 
parishes,  -which  were  now  once  more  established.  But  the 
cures  wanted  them,  besides,  to  make  the  Waldcnscs  pay  a 
sum  equivalent  to  the  revenues  of  this  property,  during 
the  whole  time  they  had  enjoyed  it. 

Shortly  afterwards,  they  sent  a  memorial  to  their  sove- 
reign, in  which  they  set  forth  the  sufferings  and  misery 
of  their  'pastors.  They  reminded  him  that  thoy  used  to 
receive  two  supplies  from  England,  one  of  them  termed 
royal,  the  other  national,  which,  together,  raised  the  in- 
come of  each  pastor  to  about  four  hundred  livres  Piedmon- 
tese.  The  British  ambassador  supported  the  prayer  of  the 
Waldenses;  and  in  February,  181G,  Victor  Emanuel  issued 
an  edict,  to  this  purport : — 

First.  That  the  pastors  shall  receive  a  fixed  salary,  the 
amount  to  be  hereafter  fixed. 

Secondly.  That  the  property  acquired  by  the  Waldenses 
without  their  ancient  limits  may  be  retained  by  the  pro- 
prietors. 

Thirdly.  That  the  protestants  shall  be  allowed  to  exer- 
cise civil  occupations,  such  as  those  of  engineer,  architect, 
surgeon,  &c. 

Soon  afterwards,  the  king  consented  to  allow  the  Wal- 
denses to  resume  their  religious  services  in  the  church  of 
San   Giovanni.     At   this  time  a  census  was  made  of  the 
"Waldensian  population,  and  there  were  found  to  be— 
Protestants     ....     16,975 
Catholics        ....       4,075 

Total  .     .     21,U5U 


3G4  THE    WALDENSES 

The  Waldenses  took  no  part  in  the  political  events  of 
1821,  ■fthich  led  to  the  abdication  of  Victor  Emanuel  IV., 
in  favour  of  his  brother,  Charles  Felix  ;  but  they  suffered 
the  displeasure  and  opposition  of  the  new  government, 
which  seemed  disposed  to  revive  many  of  the  former  re- 
strictive and  oppressive  edicts  against  them. 


Cljiijitff  Cljirtij-HrrnniV 


PEESEXT    CONDITION    OF    THE    WALDENSES. 

The  Waldensian  churches  shared  in  the  decline  of  vital 
piety  which  prevailed  so  generally  in  the  protcstant 
churches  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century.  But  there 
has  been  a  blessed  resuscitation  of  true  piety  and  zeal,  both 
among  ministers  and  people,  and  there  is  now  everywhere 
active  among  them  the  same  undaunted,  self-denying, 
Christian  spirit  that  characterized  them  through  so  many 
long  centuries  of  oppression.  The  first  impulse  of  this 
awakened  life  has  been  traced  to  one  remarkable  individual. 

A  young  officer  of  the  artillery  had  exclaimed,  in  a  mo- 
ment of  sorrow:  "  0  God,  give  me  to  know  the  truth,  and 
deign  to  manifest  thyself  to  my  heart."  lie  then  recom- 
menced his  studies,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  evangelical 
ministry. 

That  young  man  was  Felix  NeflF,  led  by  Providence  to 
that  part  of  the  French  Alps  where  the  "Waldensian  church 
had  been  established.  He  triumphed  over  all  obstacles ; 
he  taught  the  inhabitants  to  irrigate  their  meadows,  to 
improve  their  lands  ;  but  he  more  particularly  lent  himself 
to  the  task  of  vivifying  their  souls. 

The  next  year  he  went   to  the  Waldensian  valleys  of 
Piedmont,  and  was  forcibly  struck  with  the  richness  of  the 
vegetation,  so  strongly  contrasting  with  the  aridity  of  the 
31*  (305) 


866  THE    WALDENSES. 

French  valleys.  But  he  was  still  more  struck  with  the 
spiritual  degeneracy  of  the  AValdenses. 

Prayer  meetings  were  formed  by  him  without  the  official 
circle  of  the  church.  These  were  denounced  to  the  intend- 
ant  of  Pignerol,  and  by  him  to  the  moderator ;  but  the 
latter  pronounced  them  within  evangelical  legitimacy,  and 
refused  to  allow  any  interference.  Thus  Avas  religious  zeal 
revived  in  the  valleys,  and  with  it  came  enlarged  solicitude 
for  the  temporal  wants  of  the  church. 

The  idea  of  building  a  hospital  in  the  valleys  occurred  to 
a  few  generous  persons ;  the  king  authorized  its  founda- 
tion, and  the  representatives  of  the  protestant  powers,  at 
Turin,  gave,  in  every  direction,  facilities  for  the  attainment 
of  this  important  object.  Count  de  Waldburg  Truchsess 
the  representative  of  Frederick  William  III.  of  Prussia, 
w^as  especially  prominent  in  promoting  the  undertaking. 
On  learning  that  they  were  authorized  to  purchase  a  site 
for  the  purpose,  he  remitted  to  them  the  sum  necessary  for 
the  purchase.  This  sum  was  part  of  a  gift  of  twelve  thou- 
sand francs,  which  had  been  made  to  the  Waldenses  by  the 
emperor  Alexander  of  Russia,  at  the  instance  of  the  count. 

It  was  next  determined  to  appoint  a  delegate,  to  collect 
the  contributions  which  had  been  promised  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. The  delegate  departed  in  May,  1824 ;  and  after 
visiting  Switzerland,  Berlin,  Paris,  and  England,  returned 
in  1826.  The  protestant  colonies  in  Genoa,  Turin,  and 
Rome,  likewise  contributed  their  charity  and  their  sym- 
pathies. In  Geneva,  and  other  towns  of  Switzerland,  as 
well  as  in  other  countries,  committees  were  formed  in  aid 
of  the  funds,  and  considerable  sums  were  collected.  M. 
Paul  Appia,  pastor  of  the  French  protestant  church  at 
Frankfort  on  the  Maine,  visited  the  Netherlands,  and  after- 
wards Paris,  and  raised  important  contributions,  by  his 


THEIR    TRESEXT    CONDITION.  ;',()7 

eloquent  sermons  ;  the  kings  of  Great  Britain,  Trussia,  and 
the  Netherlands,  added  their  names  to  the  list  of  subscri- 
bers, and  at  length  a  sufficient  capital  was  raised,  not 
merely  to  build  the  hospital,  but,  by  the  aid  of  subsequent 
collections,  to  endow  it  with  a  revenue  of  fourteen  thou- 
sand francs. 

This  first  establishment  was  erected  in  the  valley  of  Lu- 
zerna;  a  few  years  afterwards,  a  branch  institution  was 
erected  in  the  valley  of  St.  Martin.  At  the  same  period, 
the  reverend  Dr.  Gilly,  having  drawn  the  attention  of  the 
English  public  to  the  Waldensian  valleys,  by  the  narrative 
of  his  journey  thither  in  1823,  became,  so  to  speak,  the 
founder  of  the  college  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  which  was 
established  at  La  Torre. 

A  branch  of  this  institution  was  soon  afterwards,  by  the 
exertions  of  Major  Beckwith  and  others,  formed  in  the 
valley  of  St.  Martin.  It  is  to  Major  Beckwith  that  is 
owing  especially  the  erection  or  enlargement  of  a  hundred 
schools  in  the  valleys,  with  adequate  endowments;  but  it 
is  to  Dr.  Gilly  that  the  valleys  are  indebted  for  the  interest 
aroused  by  his  works,  in  favour  of  the  Waldenses,  not  only 
in  Major  Beckwith,  but  in  the  committee  which,  formed  in 
London  in  1825,  has  so  materially  promoted  the  ameliora- 
tions which  have  since  taken  place. 

The  more  complete  organization  of  the  public  services 
and  of  spiritual  instruction,  became  next  a  leading  object 
with  the  ecclesiastical  staff  of  the  valleys.  The  articles 
of  discipline  were  scattered  through  a  hundred  synod ical 
acts.  M.  George  Muston,  pastor  of  Bobbi,  and  assistant 
moderator,  undertook  to  collect  and  classify  them;  he  con- 
secrated two  years  to  the  task,  and  the  result  of  his  labours 
was  then  submitted,  first  to  the  members  of  the  Waldensian 
Board  separately,  and  next  to  the  aggregate  synod,  which, 


3fi8  THE    WALDENSES. 

on  the  5th  December,  1833,  adopted  and  enacted  it.  It 
is  divided  into  seven  chapters,  and  comprehends  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-nine  articles.  The  number  of  parishes  was 
about  the  same  time  augmented  in  the  valleys.  There  had 
been  but  thirteen  of  these  from  1686  to  1829,  but  in  the 
latter  year  Macel  was  detached  from  the  parish  of  Ma- 
nilla, and  Rodoret  from  that  of  Prali,  thus  forming  two 
additional  cures. 

The  introduction  of  lay  members  into  the  administration 
of  the  Waldensian  church  was  made  in  1823,  and  from 
that  period  the  union  has  been  closer  between  the  pastors 
and  their  flocks,  and  the  management  of  affairs  far  more 
satisfactory  to  all  parties.  Brotherly  conferences  are 
held,  twice  a  year,  by  all  the  assembled  pastors,  and  fre- 
quently by  the  pastors  of  each  valley  among  themselves. 
A  special  school  for  the  training  of  young  men  destined 
to  the  ministry  was  established  in  1828 ;  and,  since  1848, 
all  these  candidates  for  the  pastorship  are  instructed  in 
Italian,  with  the  view  to  the  gradual  restoration,  in  the 
valleys,  of  this  their  true  national  tongue,  which  became 
superseded  by  the  French  language,  owing  to  the  intro- 
duction, after  the  plague  of  1630,  of  fifteen  pastors  from 
Geneva. 

The  library  of  the  college  of  La  Trinite  has  of  late 
years  greatly  increased,  and  therein  are  now  deposited  all 
the  attainable  archives  of  the  Waldenses. 

The  Waldenses  were  visited  by  the  llev.  Dr.  Baird,  of 
the  United  States,  first  in  1837,  and  again  in  1843.  Dr. 
Baird  has  done  much,  by  his  printed  publications,  and  by 
lectures,  to  make  known  in  this  country  the  present  con- 
dition of  this  interesting  people.  In  the  spring  of  1853, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Revel,  the  Moderator  of  the  Waldensian 
Synod,  visited  the  United  States,  and  was  present  at  the 


THEIR    PRESENT    CONDITION.  ggg 

meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  of  several  other  important  ecclesiastical  bodies, 
whom  he  addressed  in  reference  to  the  present  wants  and 
condition  of  his  people.  The  special  object  of  his  mission 
was  to  obtain  the  means  of  endowing;  their  thcolosical 
Seminary. 

It  is  not  surprising,  after  the  great  political  movements 
of  1848,  that  tottering  thrones  should  have  extended  to 
more  than  one  people  the  tardy  fruits  of  their  liberties ; 
and,  thus  considered,  the  civil  and  political  emancipation 
of  the  Waldenses  Avould  be  no  extraordinary  event :  but 
the  kino;  of  Sardinia  had  of  his  own  free  will  enjiaced  in  a 
liberal  course  of  policy,  long  before  the  revolutionary  ex- 
plosion of  1848.  He  had  emancipated  the  Waldenses, 
and  given  a  constitution  to  his  people,  without  any  pres- 
sure from  without,  and  simply  from  the  impulse  of  his  own 
noble  heart  and  lofty  intelligence.  It  may  have  been 
seen  that  the  rigour  of  the  ancient  edicts  had  been  weak- 
ened by  the  individual  act  of  the  sovereign.  These  edicts, 
although  still  existing  in  form,  had  fallen  into  desuetude. 

The  Roman  clergy  had  also  changed  its  system  of 
attack  on  the  Waldensian  church.  Violence  and  oppres- 
sion being  no  longer  in  vogue,  they  had  recourse  to  a 
weapon  already  employed  in  former  ages — discussion ; 
Avhich,  however,  now  assumed  the  milder  form  of  pastoral 
letters.  Bigex,  bishop  of  Pigncrol,  commenced  this  task  ; 
and  on  the  appearance  of  the  first  of  his  pastorals,  the 
Waldensian  public  was  very  much  excited,  whether  from 
the  novelty  of  the  thing,  or  from  the  fear  of  possible  con- 
sequences. Several  pastors  thought  themselves  bound  to 
reply,  and  they  did  so  by  manuscript  refutations,  which, 
reproduced  in  many  copies,  circulated  from  family  to 
family.     This  paper  warfare  soon    ceased,  producing  no 

Y 


H70  THE    AV  A  L  D  E  X  S  E  S  . 

result  to  those  who  opened  it.  It  was  resumed  by  several 
of  the  successors  of  M.  Bigex,  but  the  only  effect  was, 
that  public  opinion  inclined  more  than  ever  towards  the 
Waldenses. 

Charles  Albert  himself  felt  the  influence.  In  his  quality 
of  grand  master  of  the  order  of  St.  Maurice  and  St.  Laza- 
rus, he  consented,  in  1844,  to  be  present  at  the  dedication 
of  the  temple  of  the  new  church  of  St.  Maurice  and  St. 
Lazarus,  established  at  La  Torre.  Previous  to  the  cere- 
mony, orders  had  been  given  at  La  Torre  to  prepare  lodg- 
ings for  the  troops  of  the  line  who  were  to  come  as  his 
majesty's  guard,  and  dark  recollections  clouded  the  thoughts 
of  most  of  the  people  ;  when  suddenly  they  heard  that  the 
king  had  dismissed  the  guard,  saying,  "I  need  no  guard 
among  the  Waldenses." 

Before  quitting  the  valleys,  the  king  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  syndic  of  La  Torre,  large  alms  for  the  poor  of  both 
communions ;  and  when  he  resumed  the  road  to  Turin,  he 
could  see,  like  a  sparkling  diadem,  a  girdle  of  bonfires, 
which  testified  the  joy  and  gratitude  he  had  left  behind 
him.  Shortly  afterwards,  in  memory  of  the  good  and 
loyal  reception  he  had  received  from  the  Waldenses,  he 
caused  a  small  monumental  fountain  to  be  erected  at  the 
gates  of  La  Torre,  with  this  inscription  ; — 

IL     RE     CARLO     ALBERTO     AL     POPOLO     CHE 

l'aCCOGLIEVA    CON    TANTO    AFFETTO.* 

MDCCCXLT. 

The  decoration  of  the  order  of  St.  Maurice  and  St.  Laza- 
rus was  afterwards  given  to  General  Beckwith,  as  to  the 
benefactor  of  the  Waldenses. 

*  "  The  king,  Charles  Albert,  to  the  people  who  received  him  with 
BO  much  affection." 


THEIR   PRESENT    CONDITION.  37I 

Towards  the  close  of  1847,  the  social  and  political 
reforms,  long  meditated  by  the  Piedmontcse  government, 
began  to  be  developed,  in  the  amendment  of  legal  proce- 
dure, the  introduction  of  trial  by  jury,  &c.  On  the  22d 
November,  1847,  was  promulgated  the  organic  law  of  the 
communal  and  provincial  councils,  whereby  all  restrictions 
were  removed  from  the  election  of  Waldenses.  This  mea- 
sure was  soon  followed  by  the  institution  of  the  national 
guard. 

A  petition  to  the  sovereign,  at  the  head  of  which  ap- 
peared the  name  of  the  marquis  d'Azcglio,  was  next  drawn 
up,  seeking  the  civil  emancipation  of  the  "Waldenses  and 
the  Jews.  The  generous  marquis  himself  presented  this 
address  to  the  sovereign,  which  was  supported  a  few  days 
afterwards  by  another  petition  from  the  "Waldenses.  Pub- 
lic opinion  sustained  the  movement ;  and  on  the  17th  of 
February,  1848,  there  appeared  an  edict,  granting  to  the 
Waldenses  a  full  participation  in  all  the  civil  and  political 
rights  enjoyed  by  the  other  subjects  of  the  king,  including 
the  privilege  of  frequenting  the  public  schools,  and  of 
obtaining  degrees  at  the  university.  No  sooner  was  this 
decree  known  in  the  valleys  than  it  excited  an  enthusiasm 
there,  in  which  catholics  alike  with  protestants  took  part. 
It  was  amidst  the  rejoicings  occasioned  by  this  edict,  and 
by  the  constitution  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Sardi- 
nian states  by  their  beloved  sovereign,  that  the  revolution 
broke  out  in  France,  which,  among  its  other  effects,  induced 
the  abdication  of  that  monarch  in  favour  of  his  eldest  son, 
Charles  Emanuel  "V. 

The  "Waldenses  were,  in  especial,  mourners  at  the  abdi- 
cation and  subsequent  death  of  him  to  whom  they  owed 
so  much,  by  whom  their  political  existence  Avas  changed, 
and  under  whom  a  new  era  commenced  for  them. 


372  THE    WALDENSES, 

They  are  at  this  time  enjoying  a  degree  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  to  which  for  long  centuries  they  had  been 
strangers.  The  Sardinian  government  is  now  almost  the 
only  government,  even  professing  to  be  liberal,  that 
remains  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  it  continues  to 
manifest  every  disposition  to  accord  to  the  Waldenses  the 
uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  that  freedom  in  which  they 
are  so  abundantly  prospering. 


^l  \\  \\  l\\\}\  X  . 


I.  Doctrines  and  Ecclesiastical  rolity  of  the  Wahlcnses. 

The  Waldenses  disclaim  the  name  of  "  Protestant."  Tlicy  say 
they  never  came  out  from  Home,  inasmuch  as  they  were  never  in 
Rome.  They  are  simply  an  Evangelical  Church,  and  their  proper 
title  is  "  l^he  Evangelical  Church  of  the  Valleys."  In  the  present 
work,  they  are  sometimes  called  "  Protestants,"  and  their  opponents 
"  Catholics,"  for  convenience,  though  the  latter  are  more  commonly 
de-signated  "  Boman  Catholics,"  and  "  Papists." 

In  the  matter  of  church  order,  the  Waldenses  are  more  closely 
allied  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  than  to  any  otlier.  Tliey  are, 
in  truth,  in  all  essential  particulars,  Presbyterians.  They  have 
in  each  congregation  a  consistory,  equivalent  to  the  Church  ses- 
f^ion.  The  consistory  is  composed  of  the  pastor,  the  ciders,  and 
the  deacons.  The  deacons  have  the  care  of  the  poor.  The 
elders  are  first  nominated  by  the  congregation,  and  then  elected 
by  the  consistory.  They  are  regularly  installed,  after  sermon, 
in  the  church,  and  have  a  charge  to  ■watch  over  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  flock,  to  aid  the  pastor,  to  reprove  the  erring,  to 
exhort  to  the  performance  of  duty ;  and  two  of  them  are  appointed 
to  represent  the  congregation  in  the  higher  ecclesiastical  tribunal. 
The  Waldenses  believe  in  the  parity  of  the  ministry,  their  pastors 
of  "  barbas"  being  all  equal.  They  have  ecclesiastical  supervision 
by  a  court  of  review  and  control.  They  have  but  one  sui)erior 
ecclesiastical  court,  viz :  the  synod,  which  includes  the  functions 
of  both  presbytery  and  synod.  The  Waldensian  synod  anciently 
met  every  year,  in  the  month  of  September.  In  times  of  ])ersecu- 
tion  its  meetings  were,  of  course,  liable  to  frequent  interruptions. 
Later  in  their  history,  it  met  once  in  three  years.  It  now  meets 
once  in  five  years.  The  synod  is  composed  of  fill  the  ministers,  who 
are  actual  pastors  or  professors  in  their  college,  and  of  two  elders 
from  each  parish.  The  two  elders  from  each  parish  have,  however, 
32  (373) 


371  APPENDIX. 

but  one  vote.  The  synod  elect  one  of  their  own  ministers  as  mod- 
erator, whose  office  continues  till  the  time  of  the  next  meeting.  His 
office,  however,  gives  him  no  power  beyond  that  of  any  presiding 
officer,  and  it  expires  with  the  appointment  of  his  successor.  lie 
has  no  inherent  right  of  ordination.  When  that  rite  takes  place,  the 
ordainers  are  the  ministers  as  such,  the  presiding  officer  simply 
taking  the  lead.  The  ceremony  of  ordination  is  precisely  similar 
to  the  corresponding  rite  as  it  is  practised  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  United  States. 

As  there  is  considerable  expense  in  getting  from  government  the 
necessary  permit  to  hold  a  synod,  and  sometimes  this  permit  is 
withheld  entirely  for  a  time,  the  Waldenses  have  delegated  the  ex- 
ecutive powers  of  the  synod  to  a  sort  of  committee  ad  interim,  called 
the  Board  or  Table.  This  committee  consists  of  the  moderator,  the 
assistant-moderator,  the  secretary,  and  two  elders  elected  by  the 
synod.  They  carry  into  effect  the  decisions  of  the  synod  in  the 
intervals  of  its  meetings  ;  superintend  the  churches  and  schools, 
including  the  conduct  of  both  pastors  and  teachers ;  carry  on  the 
foreign  and  domestic  correspondence ;  choose  the  deputations  to 
foreign  countries  ;  suspend  unworthy  pastors  and  school-masters  ; 
examine  and  ordain  candidates  for  the  ministry ;  superintend  the 
young  men  who  are  studying  for  the  ministry  ;  settle  difficulties  be- 
tween ministers  and  their  congregations,  &c.  They  are  in  fact  the 
executive  of  the  synod,  whenever  the  latter  is  not  in  session. 

Among  the  ancient  documents  of  the  Waldenses,  is  one  dating  as 
far  back  as  A.  D.  1120,  called  "  The  Ancient  Discipline  of  the 
Evangelical  Churches  in  the  Valleys  of  Piedmont."  In  this  docu- 
ment, are  two  articles  relating  to  the  ministry.  The  education  of 
ministers  is  described  as  consisting  mainly  in  committing  to  memory 
a  large  part  of  the  scriptures.  They  "  get  by  heart  all  the  chapters 
of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John,  with  all  the  Epistles  called  canonical, 
and  a  good  part  of  the  writings  of  Solomon,  David,  and  the  Proph- 
ets." They  are  represented  as  asking  a  call  from  the  people,  and 
being  ordained  by  the  imposition  of  hands.  They  are  under  the 
inspection  of  one  another,  and  are  provided  with  food  and  clothing 
by  the  persons  whom  they  teach.  Ministers  committing  gross  sins 
are  to  be  deposed.  The  church  has  the  right  to  choose  its  own  leaders. 
The  pastors  are  to  assemble  statedly  in  general  council  or  synod. 
But  not  a  word  is  said  of  prelatical  bishops,  nor  of  superior  and  infe- 


APPENDIX.  375 

rior  orders  in  the  ministry.  They  h;\d  no  such  distinctions  among 
them,  at  the  time  Avhen  they  first  became  known  to  the  llcfurmers, 
nor  have  they  had  any  such  since ;  and  they  have  uniformly  main- 
tained, as  they  maintain  now,  that  from  time  immemorial  they  have 
had  but  the  one  oi"der  of  ministers,  the  barbas,  or  pastors  of  individ- 
ual congre^^ations,  with  elders  and  deacons  in  each  congregation. 

In  doctrine,  the  Waldensian  formularies  are  thoroughly  Calvinistic. 
They  hold  the  doctrine  of  sovereign  unconditional  election  to  eternal 
life ;  the  doctrine  that  Christ  died  in  a  special  sense  for  his  elect 
people;  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  the  imputed  righteousness 
of  Christ  alone ;  of  sanctification  by  the  special  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  of  the  final  perseverance  of  the  saints  in  holiness.  They 
reject  at  the  same  time  the  doctrine  of  the  mass,  of  purgatory,  the 
■worship  of  the  Virgin,  and,  generally,  they  "  account,  as  an  unspeak- 
able abomination  before  God,  all  these  inventions  of  men,  namely, 
the  feasts,  and  the  vigils  of  saints,  the  water  which  they  call  holy, 
as  lifewiso  to  abstain  from  flesh  upon  certain  days,  and  the  like." 

II.  Extracts  from  the  "Ancient  Discipline  of  the  Ecamjclical  Churches, 
of  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,"  dated  A.  D.  1120. 

ART.    11.    CONCERNING    PASTORS. 

"  All  those  who  are  to  be  received  as  pastors  among  us,  while  they 
remain  with  their  relations,  entreat  us  to  receive  them  into  the  min- 
istry, as  likewise  that  they  would  be  pleased  to  pray  God  that  they 
may  be  made  worthy  of  so  groat  a  charge ;  but  the  said  petitioners 
present  such  supplications  to  give  a  proof  of  their  humility. 

"  We  also  appoint  them  their  lessons  and  set  them  to  (jet  by  heart  all 
the  chapters  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John,  icitli  all  the  Epistles  called 
canonical,  and  a  good  part  of  the  icritinys  of  Solomon,  David,  and  the 

prophets. 

"  And  afterwards  having  good  testimonials,  they  arc  by  the  impo- 
sition of  hands  admitted  to  the  office  of  preaching. 

"  He  that  is  last  received  ought  to  do  nothing  without  the  license 
of  him  that  was  received  before  him  ;  and  in  like  manner  the  former 
ought  to  do  nothing  without  the  license  of  his  associate,  to  the  end 
that  all  things  among  us  may  be  done  in  good  order. 

"  Our  food  and  clothing  are  administered  unto  us,  and  given  gra- 
tuitously, and  by  way  of  alms  by  the  good  people  whom  we  instruct. 


376  APPENDIX. 

"  Among  the  other  powers  which  God  hath  given  to  liis  servants, 
he  hath  given  them  authority  to  elect  the  leaders  who  govern  the 
people,  and  to  constitute  the  elders  in  their  charges,  according  to 
the  diversity  of  the  work  in  the  unity  of  Christ,  which  is  proved  by 
the  saying  of  the  Apostle  in  the  epistle  to  Titus,  in  chap.  i.  "  For 
this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou  shouldst  set  in  order  the 
things  that  are  wanting,  and  ordain  elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had 
appointed  thee." 

"  When  any  of  us,  the  aforesaid  pastors,  fall  into  any  gross  sin, 
he  is  both  excommunicated  and  prohibited  from  preaching. 

ART.    IV.    CONCERNING    ELDERS,    THE    COLLECTIONS,    AND    COUNCILS. 

"  Rulers  and  elders  are  chosen  out  of  the  people,  according  to 
the  diversity  of  the  work,  in  the  unity  of  Christ.  And  the  Apostle 
proveth  it  to  Titus,  chap,  i.  "  For  this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete, 
that  thou  shouldst  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting,  and 
ordain  elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had  appointed  thee." 

"  The  money  which  is  given  us  by  the  people,  is  by  us  carried  to 
the  aforesaid  general  council,  and  there  delivered  publicly  in  the 
presence  of  all ;  and  afterwards  the  same  is  taken  and  distributed 
by  our  stewards  ;  part  of  the  money  being  given  to  such  as  are  sent 
upon  journeys  for  the  occasion,  and  part  of  it  given  to  the  poor. 

"  We  that  are  pastors  assemble  once  a-year  to  treat  of  our  affairs 
in  a  general  council." 

III.  A   Confession  of  Faith  of  the   Waldenses,  hearing  date  A.  D. 
1120.,  taken  from  the  Cambridge  MSS. 

'•Article  I. — We  believe  and  firmly  hold  all  that  which  is  con- 
tained in  the  twelve  articles  of  the  symbol,  which  is  called  the 
Apostle's  Creed,  accounting  for  heresy  whatsoever  is  disagreeing, 
and  not  consonant  to  the  said  twelve  articles. 

"  Article  II. — We  do  believe  that  there  is  one  God,  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit. 

"  Article  III. — We  acknowledge  for  the  holy  canonical  Scriptures, 
the  books  of  the  Holy  Bible,  viz: — 

"  The  Books  of  Moses,  called  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers, 
Deuteronomy  ;  Joshua,  Judges,  Ruth,  1  Samuel,  2  Samuel,  1  Kings, 
2  Kings,  1  Chronicles,  2  Chronicles,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther,  Job, 
Psalms,  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  Ecclesiastes,  or  the  Preacher,  the 


APPENDIX.  377 

Song  of  Solomon,  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  the  Lamen- 
tations of  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  llosea,  Joel,  Amos,  Oliadiah, 
Jonas,  Micah,  Nahum,  llabl)alvuk,  Zeplianiah,  llaf^gai,  Zuchariah, 
INIalaohi. 

"  Here  follow  tlie  books  Apocryphal,  which  are  nut  received  of  the 
Ilebrews.  But  we  read  them  (as  saith  St.  Jerome  in  his  Prologue 
to  the  Proverbs)  for  the  instruction  of  the  people,  not  to  confirm  th« 
authority  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  viz  ■ — 

"Esdras,  Tobit,  Judith,  AVisdom,  Ecelesiasticus,  Baruch  with  tlie 
Epistle  of  Jeremiah,  Esther  from  the  tenth  chapter  to  tlie  end,  the 
Song  of  the  Three  Children  in  the  Furnace,  the  History  of  Susanna, 
the  History  of  the  Dragon,  1  Maccabees,  2  Maccabees. 

"Here  follow  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  :  — 

"  The  Gospel  according  to  Sts.  Mathcw,',Mark,  Luke,  John,  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Romans,  1  Cor- 
inthians, 2  Corinthians,  Galatlans,  Ephesians,  Pliilippians,  Colos- 
sians,  1  Thessalonians,  2  Tlicssalonians,  1  Timothy,  2  Timothy, 
Titus,  Philemon,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the  Epistle  of  St. 
James,  the  first  Epistle  of  St.  Peter,  the  second  Epistle  of  St.  Peter, 
the  first  Epistle  of  St.  John,  the  second  Epistle  of  St.  John,  the  third 
Epistle  of  St.  John,  The  Epistle  of  St.  Jude,  the  Revelation  of  St. 
John. 

"  Article  IV. — The  books  above  said  teach  this,  tliat  there  is  one 
God,  Almighty,  all-wise,  and  all-good,  who  has  made  all  things  by 
his  goodness ;  for  he  formed  Adam  in  his  own  image  and  likeness, 
but  that  by  the  envy  of  the  devil,  and  the  disobedience  of  the  said 
Adam,  sin  has  entered  into  the  world,  and  that  we  arc  sinners  in 
Adam  and  by  Adam. 

"  Article  V. — That  Christ  was  promised  to  our  fathers  who  received 
the  law,  that  so  knowing  by  the  law  their  sin,  unrighteousness  and 
insuificienc}%  they  might  desire  the  coming  of  Christ,  to  satisfy  for 
their  sins,  and  accomplish  the  law  by  himself. 

"Article  VI. — That  Christ  was  born  in  the  time  appointed  by 
God  the  Father.  That  is  to  say,  in  the  time  when  all  iniquity 
abounded,  and  not  for  the  cause  of  good  works,  for  all  were  sin- 
ners ;  but  that  he  might  show  us  grace  and  mercy,  as  being  faithful. 

"  Article  VII. — That  Christ  is  our  life,  truth,  peace,  and  right- 
eousness, also  our  pastor,  advocate,  sacrifice,  and  priest,  .who  died 


378  APPENDIX. 

for  the  salvation  of  all  those  that  believe,  and  is  risen  for  our  justi- 
fication. 

"  Article  VIII. — In  like  manner,  vre  firmly  hold,  that  there  is  no 
other  mediator  and  advocate  -with  God  the  Father,  save  only  Jesus 
Christ.  And  as  for  the  A'irgin  INIary,  that  she  was  holy,  humble, 
and  full  of  grace ;  and  in  like  manner  do  we  believe  concerning  all 
the  other  saints,  viz :  that  being  in  heaven,  they  wait  for  the  resur- 
rection of  their  bodies  at  the  day  of  judgment. 

"  Article  IX. — Item,  we  believe  that  after  this  life,  there  are  only 
two  places,  the  one  for  the  saved,  and  the  other  for  the  damned, 
the  which  two  places  we  call  paradise  and  hell,  absolutely  denying 
that  purgatory^jnvented  by  antii^lxrist.  and  forged,  conti-ary  to  the 
truth. 

"  Article  X. — Item,  we  have  always  accounted  as  an  unspeakable 
abomination  before  God,  all  those  inventions  of  men,  namelj^  the 
feasts  and  the  vigils  of  saints,  the  water  which  they  call  holy.  As 
likewise  to  abstain  from  flesh  upon  certain  days,  and  the  like  ;  but 
especially  their  masses. 

"  Article  XI. — We  esteem  for  an  abomination  and  as  antichris- 
tian,  all  those  human  inventions  which  are  a  trouble  or  prejudice  to 
the  liberty  of  the  spirit. 

"Article  XII. — We  do  believe  that  the  sacraments  are  signs  of 
the  holy  thing,  or  visible  forms  of  the  invisible  grace,  accounting  it 
good  that  the  faithful  sometimes  use  the  said  signs  or  visible  forms, 
if  it  may  bo  done.  However,  we  believe  and  holdj  that  the  above 
said  faithful  may  be  saved  without  receiving  the  signs  aforesaid,  in 
case  they  have  no  place  nor  any  means  to  use  them. 

"  Article  XIII. — We  acknowledge  no  other  sacrament  but  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

"  Article  XIV. — We  ought  to  honour  the  secular  powers  by  sul> 
mission,  ready  obedience,  and  paying  of  tributes." 

IV.  Catecliism  of  the  Ancient  Waldenses  for  the  instruction  of  their 
Youth,  composed  in  the  Vith  century. 

Minister.  If  one  should  demand  of  you,  who  are  you,  what  would 
you  answer  ? 

Child.  A  creature  of  God,  reasonable  and  mortal. 

Min.  Why  has  God  created  you? 

Ans,  To  the  end  that  I  might  know  him  and  serve  him,  and  be 
saved  by  his  grace. 


APPENDIX,  379 

Mill.  "Wherein  consists  your  salvation  ? 

Ans.  In  three  substantial  virtues,  •which  necessarily  belong  to 
salvation. 

Mill.  Which  arc  they  ? 

Ans.  Faith,  hope,  and  charity. 

Min.  IIow  can  you  prove  that  ? 

Ans.  The  apostle  writes,!  Cor.  siii.,  "  Now  aVideth  faith,  hcpr 
and  charity,  these  three." 

Mi7i.  AVhatis  faith? 

Ans.  According  to  the  apostle,  Ileb.  xi.,  "It  is  the  substance  of 
things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen." 

Min.  How  many  sorts  of  faith  are  there  ? 

Ans.  There  are  two  sorts,  viz.,  a  living  and  a  dead  faith. 

Min.  AVhat  is  a  living  faith  ? 

Ans.  It  is  that  which  works  by  charitj-. 

Min.  What  is  a  dead  faith  ? 

Ans.  According  to  St.  James,  it  is  that  which  without  works  is 
dead.  Again,  ftiith  is  null  without  works  ;  or  a  dead  faith  is  to  be- 
lieve that  there  is  a  God,  and  not  to  believe  in  him. 

Min.  What  is  your  faith  ? 

Ans.  The  true  catholic  and  apostolic  faith. 

Min.  What  is  that  ? 

Ans.  It  is  that  which  in  the  result  (or  symbol)  of  the  apostles,  i. 
divided  into  twelve  articles. 

Min.  What  is  that  ? 

Ans.  I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  &c. 

Min    By  what  way  can  you  know  that  you  believe  in  God  ? 

Ans.  By  this,  that  I  know  and  I  observe  the  commandments  ot 

God.  ,  ,        - 

Min    How  many  commandments  of  God  are  there  ! 
Ans.  Ten,  as  is  manifest  in  Exodus  and  Deuteronomy. 

Min.  Which  be  they?  .,    ,   .,         ,    u  i    , 

Ans  "Hear,  0  Israel,  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  thou  shalt  ha^•■ 
none  o'ther  gods  before  me.  Thou  shalt  not  make  any  graven  image, 
or  any  likeness  of  any  thing  that  is  in  heaven,"  &c. 

Min    What  is  the  sum  or  drift  of  these  commandments  ? 

Arts'.  It  consists  in  these  two  great  commandments,  vu     Ihou 
.halt  love  God  above  all  things,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself^ 
Min    What  is  that  foundation  of  these  commandments,  by  the 


380  APPENDIX. 

which  every  one  may  enter  into  life,  and  without  the  which  founda- 
tion none  can  do  anything  worthily,  or  fulfil  the  commandments  ? 

Ans.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the  apostle  speaks  in  the 
]  Cor.,  "Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay,  than  that  is  laid,  which 
is  Jesus  Christ." 

Min.  By  what  means  may  a  man  come  to  this  foundation  ? 

Ans.  By  faith,  as  saith  St.  Peter,  1  Pet.  ii.  6,  "  Behold,  I  lay  in 
Sion  a  chief-corner  stone,  elect,  precious,  and  he  that  believeth  on 
him  shall  not  be  confounded."  And  the  Lord  saith,  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth hath  eternal  life." 

Min.  Whereby  canst  thou  know  that  thou  believest  ? 

Ans.  By  this,  that  I  know  him  to  be  true  God,  and  true  man,  who 
was  born,  and  who  hath  suffered,  &c.,  for  my  redemption,  justifica- 
tion, and  that  I  love  him,  and  desire  to  fulfil  his  commandments. 

Min.  By  what  means  may  one  attain  to  those  essential  virtues, 
faith,  hope,  and  charity  ? 

Ans.  By  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Min.  Dost  thou  believe  in  the  Holy  Spirit? 

Atis.  Yes,  I  do  believe.  For  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son  ;  and  is  one  person  of  the  Trinity  ;  and  according 
to  the  Divinity,  is  equal  to  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

Min.  Thou  believest  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  thou  hast  therefore  three  Gods. 

Ans.  I  have  not  three. 

Min.  Yea,  but  thou  hast  named  three. 

Ans.  That  is  by  reason  of  the  difference  of  the  persons,  not  by 
reason  of  the  essence  of  the  divinity.     For  although  there  are  three 
persons,  yet  notwithstanding  there  is  but  one  essence. 
y     Min.  In  what  manner  dost  thou  adore  and  worship  that  God  on 
whom  thou  believest  ? 

Ans.  I  adore  him  with  the  adoration  of  an  inward  and  an  outward 
worship.  Outwardly,  by  the  bending  of  the  knee,  and  lifting  up  the 
hands,  by  bowing  the  body,  by  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  by  fasting 
and  prayer ;  but  inwardly,  by  an  holy  affection  :  by  a  will  conform- 
able unto  all  things  that  are  well  pleasing  unto  him.  And  I  serve 
him  by  faith,  hope  and  charity,  according  to  his  commandments. 

Mi7i.  Dost  thou  adore  and  worship  any  other  thing  as  God?  , 

Ans.  No. 

Min.  Why? 


A  P  P  E  X  1)  I  X .  38 1 

Ans.  Because  of  his  ooinmandnicnt,  whereby  it  ia  strictly  com- 
manded, saying,  "  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  Gud,  and  him 
only  shalt  thou  serve."  And  again,  "I  will  not  give  my  glory  td 
another."  Again,  "  As  I  live  saith  the  Lord,  every  knee  shall  bow 
before  me."  And  Jesus  Christ  saith,  "  There  shall  come  the  tru.' 
worshippers,  which  shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
And  the  angel  would  not  be  worshipped  by  St.  Jolin,  nor  St.  Peter, 
by  Cornelius. 
Min.  After  what  manner  prayest  thou  ? 

Ans.  I  pray,  rehearsing  the  prayer  given  mo  by  the  Son  of  God, 
saying,   "  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,"  &c. 

Min.  What  is  the  other  substantial  virtue  appertaining  to  salva- 
tion? 

Ans.  It  is  charity. 
Min.  What  is  charity  ? 

Ans.  It  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  which  the  soul  is  reformed 
in  the  will,  being  enlightened  by  faith,  whereby  I  believe  all  tliat 
ought  to  be  believed,  and  hope  all  that  ought  to  be  hoped. 
Min.  Dost  thou  believe  iu  the  holy  church  ? 
Ans.  No,  for  it  is  a  creature ;  but  I  believe  that  there  is  one. 
Min.  What  is  that  which   thou  believest  concerning  the  holy 
church  ? 

Ans.  I  say,  that  the  church  is  considered  two  manner  of  ways, 
the  one  substantially,  and  the  other  ministerially.  As  it  is  con- 
sidered substantially,  by  the  holy  catholic  church  is  meant  all  the 
elect  of  God,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the  end,  by  the 
grace  of  God  through  the  merit  of  Christ,  gathered  together  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  fore-ordained  to  eternal  life ;  the  number  and 
names  of  whom  are  known  to  him  alone  who  has  elected  them, 
and  in  this  church  remains  none  who  is  reprobate;  but  the  church, 
as  it  is  considered  according  to  the  truth  of  the  ministry,  is  the 
company  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  together  with  the  peoph' 
committed  to  their  charge,  using  the  ministry  by  faith,  hope,  and 
charity. 

Min.  Whereby  dost  thou  know  the  church  of  Christ? 
Ans.  By  the  ministers  lawfully  called,  and  by  the  people  partici- 
pating in  truth  of  the  ministry. 

Min.  But  by  what  marks  knowest  thou  tlie  ministers  ? 

Ans.  By  the  true  sense  of  faith  ;  by  sound  doctrine  ;  by  a  life  of 


382  APPENDIX. 

good  example  ;  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  a  due  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments. 

Mill.  By  -what  mark  knowest  thou  the  false  ministers  ? 

Ans.  By  their  fruits ;  by  their  blindness ;  by  their  evil  -works ; 
by  their  perverse  doctrine,  and  by  their  undue  administration  of 
the  sacraments. 

Mill.  Whereby  knowest  thou  their  blindness  ? 

Ans.  When  not  knowing  the  truth,  which  necessarily  appertains 
to  salvation,  they  observe  human  inventions  as  ordinances  of  God. 
Of  whom  is  verified  what  Isaiah  says,  and  which  is  alleged  by  oui- 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Matt,  xv.,  "This  people  honour  me  withtheir 
lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me.  But  in  vain  they  do  worship 
me,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men." 

Min.  By  what  marks  knowest  thou  evil  works  ? 

Ans.  By  those  manifest  sins  of  which  the  apostle  speaks,  Gal.  v., 
saying,  "  That  they  which  do  such  things,  shall  not  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God." 

Mill.  By  what  mark  knowest  thou  perverse  doctrine  ? 

Ans.  When  it  teacheth  contrary  to  faith  and  hope;  such  is 
idolatry  of  several  sorts,  viz.,  towards  a  reasonable,  sensible, 
visible  or  invisible  creature.  For  it  is  the  Father  alone,  with  his 
Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  ought  to  be  worshipped,  and  not  any 
creature  whatsoever,  when  they  attribute  to  man  and  to  the  work 
of  his  hands,  or  to  his  words,  or  to  his  authprity,  in  such  a  manner, 
that  men  ignorantly  believe  that  they  have  satisfied  God  by  a  false 
religion,  and  by  satisfying  the  covetous  simony  of  the  priests. 

Min.  By  what  marks  is  the  undue  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ment known  ? 

Ans.  When  the  priests,  not  knowing  the  intention  of  Christ  in  the 
sacraments,  say,  that  the  grace  and  the  truth  are  included  in  the 
external  ceremonies,  and  persuade  men  to  the  participation  of  the 
sacrament  without  the  truth,  and  without  faith.  But  the  Lord 
chargeth  those  that  are  his  to  take  heed  of  such  false  prophets, 
saying,  "  beware  of  the  pharisees,"  that  is  to  say,  "  of  the  leaven 
of  their  doctrine."  Again,  "Believe  them  not,  neither  go  after 
them."  And  David  hates  the  church  or  the  congregation  of  such 
persons,  saying,  "  I  hate  the  church  of  evil  men."  And  the  Lord 
commands  to  come  out  from  the  midst  of  such  people,  Num.  xvi., 
"  Depart  from  the  tents  of  these  wicked  men,  and  touch  nothing  of 


APPENDIX.  383 

theirs,  lest  ye  be  consumed  in  their  sins."  And  the  apostle,  2  Cor. 
vi.  14,  "  Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers.  For  what 
fellowship  hath  righteousness  with  unrigliteousness,  and  what  com- 
munion hath  light  with  darkness,  and  what  concord  liath  Clirist 
with  Belial,  or  what  part  hath  he  that  believeth  with  an  intidcl  ? 
And  what  agreement  hath  the  temple  of  God  with  idols  ?  'Whereforo 
come  out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and 
touch  not  the  unclean  thing,  and  I  will  receive  you."  Again, 
2Thess.  "Now  we  command  you,  brethren,  that  you  withdraw 
yourselves  from  every  brother  that  walketh  disorderly."  Again, 
Rev.  sviii.,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers 
of  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues." 

Min.  By  what  marks  are  those  people  known  who  are  not  in  truth 
within  the  church  ? 

Ans.  By  public  sins,  and  erroneous  faith.  For  we  ought  to  fly 
from  such  persons,  lest  we  should  be  defiled  by  them. 

Min.  By  what  ways  oughtest  thou  to  communicate  with  the  holy 
church  ? 

Ans.  I  ought  to  communicate  with  the  church  in  regard  of  its 
substance,  by  faith  and  charity,  as  also  by  observing  the  command- 
ments, and  by  a  final  perseverance  in  well-doing. 

Min.  How  many  things  are  there  which  are  ministerial? 

Ans.  Two.     The  word  and  the  sacraments. 

Min.  How  many  sacraments  are  there? 

Ans.  Two ;  namely,  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Min.  What  is  the  third  virtue  necessary  to  salvation? 

Ans.  Hope. 

Min.  What  is  hope  ? 

Ans.  It  is  a  waiting  for  grace  and  glory  to  come. 

Min.  Ilowdoes  a  man  wait  (or  hope)  for  grace? 

Ans.  By  the  mediator  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  St.  John  salth, 
"Grace  comes  by  Jesus  Christ."  Agtxin,  "We  have  seen  his 
glory,  who  is  full  of  grace  and  truth,  and  Ave  all  have  received  of 
his  fulness." 

Min.  AVhat  is  that  grace  ? 

Ans.  It  is  redemption,  remission  of  sins,  justification,  aduptioii, 
and  sanctification. 

Min.  Upon  what  account  is  this  grace  hoped  for  in  Christ  ? 


384  APPENDIX. 

Ans.  By  a  living  faith,  and  true  repentance,  saying,  "  Repeat  jo, 
and  believe  the  gospel/' 

Min.  AVhence  proceedeth  this  hope  ? 

Ans.  From  the  gift  of  God,  and  the  promises  of  which  the  apostle 
mentioneth,  "He  is  powerful  to  perform  whatsoever  he  promiseth." 
For  he  hath  promised  himself,  that  whosoever  shall  know  him,  and 
repent,  and  shall  hope  in  him,  he  will  have  mercy  upon,  pardon, 
and  justify,  &c. 

Min.  What  are  the  things  that  put  us  beside  this  hope? 

Ans.  A  dead  faith,  the  seduction  of  antichrist  to  believe  in  other 
things  besides  Christ,  that  is  to  say,  in  saints,  in  the  power  of  that 
antichrist,  in  his  authority,  words,  and  benedictions,  in  sacraments, 
reliques  of  the  dead,  in  purgatory,  which  is  but  forged  and  con- 
trived, in  teaching  that  faith  is  obtained  by  those  ways  which  oppose 
themselves  to  the  truth,  and  are  against  the  commandments  of  God. 
As  is  idolatry  in  divers  respects.  As  also  by  wickedness  and  simonj-, 
&c.  Forsaking  the  fountain  of  living  water  given  by  grace,  and 
running  to  broken  cisterns,  worshipping,  honouring,  and  serving 
the  creature  by  prayers,  by  fastings,  by  sacrifices,  by  donations,  by 
offerings,  by  pilgrimages,  by  invocations,  &c.  Relying  upon  them- 
selves for  the  acquiring  of  grace,  which  none  can  give  save  only  God 
in  Christ.  In  vain  do  they  labour,  and  lose  their  money  and  their 
lives,  and  the  truth  is,  they  do  not  only  lose  their  present  life,  but 
also  that  which  is  to  come  ;  wherefore  it  is  said,  that  "  the  hope  of 
fools  shall  perish.'' 

Min.  And  what  dost  thou  say  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary  ?     For 

she  is  full  of  grace,  as  the  angel  testifies — "  I  salute  thee  full  of 

grace." 

Ans.  The  blessed  Virgin  was  and  is  full  of  grace,  as  much  as  is 

necessary  for  her  own  particular  salvation,  but  not  to  communicate 

to  others,  for  her  Son  alone  is  full  of  grace,  and  can  communicate 

the  same  as  he  pleaseth,  and  "we  have  all  received  of  his  fulness, 

grace  for  grace." 

Min.  Believest  thou  not  the  communion  of  saints  ? 

Ans.  I  believe  that  there  are  two  sorts  of  things  wherein  the 
saints  communicate — the  first  substantial,  the  other  ministerial. 
As  to  the  substantials,  they  communicate  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  in 
God,  through  the  merit  of  Jesus  Christ ;  as  to  the  ministerials  or 
sselesiastics,  they  communicate  by  the   ministry  duly  performed. 


APPENDIX.  385 

namely,  by  the  word,  by  the  sacraments,  and  by  prayer ;  I  believe 
both  the  one  and  the  other  of  these  communions  of  saints.  The  first 
only  in  God,  and  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  Holy  (Jliost  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,     The  other  in  the  church  of  Christ. 

Min.  Wherein  consists  eternal  life  ? 

Am,  In  a  living  and  operating  faith,  and  in  perseverance  in  tlie 
same.  Our  Saviour  says,  John  xvii.,  "  This  is  life  eternal,  to  know 
thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent." 
And  "  he  that  endures  to  the  end  shall  be  saved." 

V.  A  Confession  of  Faith  puhlishcd  by  the  Evanr/cUcal  Churches  «/ 
Piedmont,  in  1GG9. 

"  Having  understood  that  our  adversaries,  not  contented  to  liave 
most  cruelly  persecuted  us,  and  robbed  us  of  all  our  goods  and 
estates,  have  yet  an  intention  to  render  us  odious  to  the  world,  liy 
spreading  abroad  many  false  reports,  and  so  not  only  to  dofume  our 
persons,  but  likewise  to  asperse  with  most  shameful  calumnies  that 
holy  and  wholesome  doctrine  which  we  profess,  we  look  upon  our- 
selves as  obliged,  for  the  better  information  of  those  whose  minds 
may  perhaps  be  preoccupied  by  sinister  opinions,  to  make  a  short 
declaration  of  our  faith,  such  as  we  have  heretofore  professed  and 
held,  and  do  at  this  day  profess  and  hold  as  conformable  to  the  word 
of  God;  and  so  overy  one  may  see  the  falsity  of  those  their  calum- 
nies, and  also  how  unjustly  we  are  hated  and  persecuted  upon  the 
account  of  our  profession. 

"  We  believe, 

"  1.  First,  that  there  is  one  only  God,  who  is  a  spiritual  essence, 
eternal,  infinite,  all-wise,  merciful,  just,  and,  in  sum,  all-perfect;  and 
that  there  are  three  persons  in  that  one  only  and  simple  essence, 
viz :  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit. 

"  2.  That  the  same  God  has  manifested  himself  unto  us  by  the 
works  of  Creation  and  Providence,  as  also  in  his  word  revealed  unto 
us,  first  by  oracles  in  several  manners,  and  afterwards  by  those 
written  books  which  are  called  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

"  3.  That  we  ought  to  receive  those  Holy  Scriptures  (as  we  do) 

for  sacred  and  canonical,  that  is  to  saj',  for  the  constant  rule  of  our 

faith  and  life :  as  also  to  believe  that  the  same  is  fully  contained  in 

the  Old  and  New  Testament ;  and  that  l>y  tlie  Old  Tostamont  we 

33  Z 


386  APPENDIX. 

must  understand  only  such  books  as  God  did  intrust  the  Judaical 
church  with,  and  which  that  church  always  approved  and  acknow- 
ledged to  be  from  God :  namely,  the  five  books  of  Moses,  Joshua, 
the  Judges,  Ruth,  1  and  2  of  Samuel,  1  and  2  of  the  Kings,  1  and 
2  of  the  Chronicles,  the  1  of  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther,  Job,  the 
Psalms,  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  Ecclesiastes,  the  Song  of  Songs, 
the  four  great,  and  the  twelve  minor  Prophets :  the  New  Testament 
contains  only  the  four  Evangelists,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul — 1  to  the  Romans,  2  to  the  Corinthians,  1  to  the 
Galatians,  1  to  the  Ephesians,  1  to  the  Philippians,  1  to  the  Colos- 
sians,  2  to  the  Thessalonians,  2  to  Timothy,  1  to  Titus,  1  to  Phile- 
mon, and  his  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  ;  1  of  St.  James,  2  of  St.  Peter, 
o  of  St.  John,  1  of  St.  Jude  ;  and  lastly,  the  Revelation. 

"4.  We  acknowledge  the  divinity  of  these  books,  not  only  from 
the  testimony  of  the  church,  but  more  especially  because  of  the  eter- 
nal and  undoubted  truth  of  the  doctrine  therein  contained,  and  of 
that  most  divine  excellency,  sublimity,  and  majesty,  which  appears 
therein ;  besides  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  gives  us  to 
receive  with  reverence  the  testimony  of  the  church  in  that  point, 
and  opens  the  eyes  of  our  understanding  to  discover  the  beams  of 
that  celestial  light,  which  shines  in  the  Scripture,  and  prepares  our 
taste  to  discern  the  divine  favour  of  that  spiritual  food. 

"5.  That  God  made  all  things  of  nothing  by  his  own  free  will, 
and  by  the  infinite  power  of  his  word. 

"  6.  That  he  governs  and  rules  all  by  his  providence,  ordaining 
and  appointing  whatsoever  happens  in  this  world,  without  being 
author  or  cause  of  any  evil  committed  by  the  creatures,  so  that  the 
defect  thereof  neither  can  nor  ought  to  be  any  ways  imputed  unto 
hira. 

"  7.  That  the  angels  were  all  in  the  beginning  created  pure  and 
holy,  but  that  some  of  them  are  fallen  into  irreparable  corruption 
and  perdition;  and  that  the  rest  have  persevered  in  their  first  purity 
by  an  efi'ect  of  divine  goodness,  which  has  upheld  and  confirmed 
them. 

"  8.  That  man  was  created  clean  and  holy,  after  the  image  of 
God,  and  that  through  his  own  fault  he  deprived  himself  of  that 
happy  condition,  by  giving  credit  to  the  deceitful  words  of  the 
devil. 

"  9.  That  man  by  his  transgression  lost  that  righteousness  and 


APPENDIX.  387 

holiness  wliicli  he  received,  and  is  thereby  obnoxious  to  the  -wrath 
of  God,  death,  and  captivity,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  him  who  has 
the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil;  insomuch  that  our  free  will 
has  become  a  servant  and  a  slave  to  sin  ;  and  thus  all  men,  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  are  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath,  being  all 
dead  in  their  trespasses  and  sins,  and  consequently  incapable  of  the 
least  good  motion,  or  inclination  to  any  thing  Avhich  concerns  their 
salvation :  yea,  incapable  to  think  one  good  thought  without  God's 
special  grace,  all  their  imaginations  being  wholly  evil,  and  that 
continually. 

"  10.  That  all  the  posterity  of  Adam  is  guilty  of  his  disobedience, 
and  infected  by  his  corruption,  and  fallen  into  the  same  calamity 
with  him,  even  the  very  infants  from  their  mothers'  womb,  whence 
is  derived  the  woi'd  of  original  sin. 

"11.  That  God  saves  from  that  corruption  and  condemnation 
those  whom  he  has  chosen  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  not 
for  any  disposition,  faith,  or  holiness  that  he  foresaw  in  them,  but 
of  his  mere  mercy  in  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  ;  passing  by  all  the  rest, 
according  to  the  irrepreliensible  reason  of  his  free  will  and  justice. 

"  12.  That  Jesus  Christ  having  been  ordained  by  the  eternal 
decree  of  God  to  be  the  only  Saviour,  and  head  of  that  body  which 
is  the  church,  he  redeemed  it  witli  his  own  blood  in  the  fulness  of 
time,  and  communicates  unto  the  same  all  his  benefits,  togetiier 
with  the  gospel. 

"  13.  That  there  are  two  natures  in  Jesus  Christ,  viz.,  divine  and 
human,  truly  united  in  one  and  the  same  person,  Avithout  either 
confusion,  separation,  division,  or  alteration  ;  each  nature  keeping 
its  own  distinct  proprieties  ;  and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  both  true 
God  and  true  man. 

"  14.  That  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  is  to  say,  those  whom  he 
has  chosen  out  of  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  own  Son  to  save  us 
by  his  most  perfect  obedience  (especially  that  obedience  which  he 
expressed  in  his  suffering  the  cursed  death  of  the  cross),  and  also 
by  his  victory  over  the  devil,  sin,  and  death. 

"  15.  That  Jesus  Christ  having  fully  expiated  our  sins  by  his 
most  perfect  sacrifice  once  offered  on  the  cross,  it  neither  can  nor 
ought  to  be  reiterated  upon  any  account  whatsoever,  as  they  pre- 
tend to  do  in  the  mass. 

"  16,  That  the  Lord  having  fully  and  absolutely  reconciled  us 


388  APPENDIX. 

unto  God,  through  the  blood  of  his  cross,  by  virtue  of  his  merit 
only,  and  not  of  our  works,  we  are  thereby  absolved  and  justified 
in  his  sight,  neither  is  there  any  other  purgatory  besides  his  blood, 
which  cleanses  us  from  all  sin. 

"  17.  That  we  are  united  with  Christ,  and  made  partakers  of  all 
his  benefits  by  faith,  trusting  and  confiding  wholly  to  those  promises 
of  life  which  are  given  us  in  the  gospel. 

"  18.  That  that  faith  is  the  gracious  and  efBcacious  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  which  enligbtens  our  souls,  and  persuades  them  to 
lean  and  rest  upon  the  mercy  of  God,  and  so  thereby  to  apply  unto 
themselves  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  19.  That  Jesus  Christ  is  our  true  and  only  mediator,  not  only 
redeeming  us,  but  also  interceding  for  us,  and  that  by  virtue  of  his 
merits  and  intercession  we  have  access  unto  the  Father,  for  to  make 
our  supplications  unto  him,  with  a  holy  confidence  and  assurance 
that  he  will  grant  us  our  requests,  it  being  needless  to  have  recourse 
to  any  other  intercessor  besides  himself. 

"20.  That  as  God  has  promised  us  that  we  shall  be  regenerated 
in  Christ,  so  those  that  are  united  unto  him  by  a  ti-ue  faith  ought 
to  apply,  and  do  really  apply  themselves  unto  good  works. 

*'  21.  That  good  works  are  so  necessary  to  the  faithful,  that  they 
cannot  attain  the  kingdom  of  heaven  without  the  same,  seeing  that 
God  hath  prepared  them  that  we  should  walk  therein ;  and  there- 
fore we  ought  to  avoid  vice,  and  to  apply  ourselves  to  Christian 
virtues,  making  use  of  fasting,  and  all  other  means  which  may  con- 
duce to  so  holy  a  thing. 

"  22.  That  although  our  good  works  cannot  merit  anything,  yet 
the  Lord  will  reward  or  recompense  them  with  eternal  life,  through 
the  merciful  continuation  of  his  grace,  and  by  virtue  of  the  un- 
changeable constancy  of  his  promises  made  unto  us. 

*'  23.  That  those  who  are  alre-ady  in  the  possession  of  eternal  life 
by  their  faith  and  good  works  ought  to  be  considered  as  saints, 
and  as  glorified  persons,  and  to  be  praised  for  their  virtue,  and 
imitated  in  all  good  actions  of  their  life,  but  neither  worshipped  nor 
prayed  unto,  for  God  only  is  to  be  prayed  unto,  and  that  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

"  24.  That  God  has  chosen  unto  himself  one  church  in  the  world 
for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  and  that  same  church  to  have  one  only 
head  and  foundation,  which  is  Christ. 


APPENDIX.  389 

"  25.  That  that  church  is  the  company  of  the  faithful,  who  hav- 
ing been  elected  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  called  with 
an  holy  calling,  come  to  unite  themselves  to  follow  the  word  of 
God,  believing  whatsoever  he  teaches  them,  and  living  in  his  fear. 

"20.  That  that  church  cannot  err,  nor  be  annihilated,  but  must 
endure  for  ever,  and  that  all  the  elect  arc  upheld  and  preserved  by 
the  power  of  God  in  such  sort,  that  they  all  pcrsovcro  in  the  faith 
unto  the  end,  and  remain  united  in  the  holy  church,  as  so  many 
living  members  thereof. 

"  27.  That  all  men  ought  to  join  with  that  church,  and  to  con- 
tinue in  the  communion  thereof. 

"  28.  That  God  does  not  only  instruct  and  teach  us  by  his  word, 
but  has  also  ordained  certain  sacraments  to  be  joined  with  it,  as  a 
means  to  unite  us  unto  Christ,  and  to  make  us  partakers  of  his 
benefits  ;  and  that  there  are  only  two  of  them  belonging  in  common 
to  all  the  members  of  the  church  under  the  New  Testament — to  wit. 
Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

"  29.  That  God  has  ordained  the  sacrament  of  Baptism  to  be  a 
testimony  of  our  adoption,  and  of  our  being  cleansed  from  our  sins, 
by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  renewed  in  holiness  of  life. 

"30.  That  the  Holy  Supper  was  instituted  for  the  nourishment 
of  our  souls,  to  the  end  that  eating  effectually  the  flesh  of  Christ, 
and  drinking  effectually  his  blood,  by  the  incomprehensible  virtue 
and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  through  a  true  and  living  faith, 
and  so  uniting  ourselves  most  closely  and  inseparably  to  Christ,  we 
come  to  enjoy  in  him  and  by  him  spiritual  and  eternal  life. 
Now  to  the  end  tliat  every  one  may  clearly  see  what  our  belief  is  as 
to  this  point,  we  have  here  inserted  the  very  expressions  of  that 
prayer  which  we  make  use  of  before  the  Communion,  as  they  are 
written  in  our  Liturgy  or  form  of  celebrating  the  Holy  Supper,  and 
likewise  in  our  public  Catechism,  which  are  to  be  seen  at  the  end 
of  our  Psalms  ;  these  are  the  words  of  the  prayer, — 

"  Seeing  our  Lord  has  not  only  once  offered  his  boJy  and  blood 
for  the  remission  of  our  sins,  but  is  willing  also  to  communicate  the 
same  unto  us  as  the  food  of  eternal  life,  we  humbly  beseech  him  so 
to  give  us  of  his  grace,  that  in  true  sincerity  of  heart  and  Avlth  an 
ardent  zeal  we  may  receive  of  him  so  great  a  benefit ;  that  is,  that 
■we  may  be  made  partakers  of  his  body  and  blood,  or  rather  of  his 
whole  self,  by  a  sure  and  certain  faith. 


390  APPENDIX. 

"  The  words  of  the  Liturgy  are  these — Let  us  then  believe  first 
the  promises  which  Christ  (who  is  the  infallible  truth),  has  pro- 
nounced with  his  own  mouth,  viz.,  that  he  will  make  us  truly  par- 
takers of  his  body  and  blood,  that  so  we  may  possess  him  entirely, 
and  in  such  sort  that  he  may  live  in  us,  and  we  in  him.  The  words 
of  our  Catechism  are  the  same,  Nella  Dominica  53. 

"  3L  That  it  is  necessary  the  church  should  have  ministers  known 
by  those  who  are  employed  for  that  purpose,  to  be  learned,  and  of 
a  good  life,  as  well  to  preach  the  word  of  God  as  to  administer 
the  sacraments,  and  wait  upon  the  flock  of  Christ  (according  to  the 
rules  of  a  good  and  holy  discipline),  together  with  the  elders  and 
deacons,  after  the  manner  of  the  primitive  church. 

"32.  That  God  hath  established  kings  and  magistrates  to  govern 
the  people,  and  that  the  people  ought  to  be  obedient  and  subject 
unto  them,  by  virtue  of  that  ordination,  not  only  for  fear,  but  also 
for  conscience-sake,  in  all  things  that  are  conformable  to  the  word 
of  God,  who  is  the  King  of  Kings,  and  the  Lord  of  lords. 

"33.  Finally,  that  we  ought  to  receive  the  symbol  of  tlie  apostles? 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Decalogue,  as  fundamentals  of  our  faith 
and  of  our  devotion. 

"  And  for  a  more  ample  declaration  of  our  faith,  we  do  here  reit- 
erate the  same  protestation  which  we  caused  to  be  printed  in  1G03, 
that  is  to  say,  that  we  do  agree  in  sound  doctrine  with  all  the  re- 
formed churches  of  France,  Great  Britain,  the  Low  Countries,  Ger- 
many, Switzerland,  Bohemia,  Poland,  Hungary,  and  others,  as  it  is 
represented  by  them  in  their  confessions ;  as  also  wc  receive  the 
Confession  of  Augsburg,  and  as  it  was  published  by  the  authors, 
promising  to  persevere  constantly  therein  with  the  help  of  God,  both 
in  life  and  death,  and  being  ready  to  subscribe  to  that  eternal  truth 
of  God,  with  our  own  blood,  even  as  our  ancestors  have  done  from 
the  days  of  the  apostles,  and  especially  in  these  latter  ages. 

"  Therefore  we  humbly  entreat  all  the  evangelical  and  protestant 
churches  to  look  upon  us  as  true  members  of  the  mystical  body  of 
Christ,  suffering  for  his  name  sake,  notwithstanding  our  poverty  and 
lowness  ;  and  to  continue  unto  us  the  help  of  their  prayers  to  God, 
and  all  other  effects  of  their  charity,  as  we  have  heretofore  abund- 
antly found  and  felt,  for  the  which  we  return  them  our  most  humble 
thanks,  entreating  the  Lord  with  all  our  heart  to  be  their  rewarder, 
and  to  pour  upon  them  the  most  precious  blessings  of  grace  and 
glory,  both  in  this  life  and  that  which  is  to  come.     Amen." 


APPENDIX.  391 


VI.    Extract  from  the  "  Kohle  Lesson,"  dated  A.  D.,  1100. 

But  in  tliis  is  clearly  manifested  the  malice  of  those  men, 

That  they  -who  will  curse,  lie,  and  swear, 

lie  that  will  frequently  put  his  money  to  usury,  kill, 

And  avenge  himself  on  those  who  hurt  him  ; 

This  they  say  is  a  good  man,  and  to  be  accounted  faithful. 

But  let  him  take  heed  he  be  not  deceived  at  the  end  ; 

When  he  has  received  the  stroke  of  death,  and  when  death  seizes 
him,  and  he  becomes  almost  speechless, 

Then  he  desires  the  priest  to  confess  him : 

But  according  to  the  Scriptures  ho  has  delayed  to  long,  for  that 
commands  us 

To  repent  while  we  have  time,  and  not  to  put  it  off  till  the  last : 

The  priest  askcth  him  if  he  hath  any  sin, 

lie  answers  two  or  throe  words  and  so  hath  done ; 

The  priest  tells  him  he  cannot  be  forgiven, 

If  he  do  not  restore,  and  examine  well  his  faults  : 

When  ho  hears  this,  he  is  very  much  troubled^ 

And  thinks  with  himself,  if  he  restore  entirely, 

AVhat  shall  he  leave  his  children,  and  what  will  the  world  say  ? 

Then  he  commandeth  his  children  to  examine  their  faults, 

And  buyeth  of  the  priest  his  absolution  ; 

Though  he  hath  a  hundred  livres  of  another  and  better  penny,  yet 

The  priest  acquits  him  for  a  hundred  pence. 

And  sometimes  for  less  when  he  can  get  no  more. 

Telling  him  a  large  story,  and  promising  him  pardon. 

That  he  will  say  mass  for  him,  and  for  hi.s  ancestors  ; 

And  thus  he  pardons  them,  be  they  righteous  or  wicked, 

Laying  his  hands  upon  their  heads, 

(But  when  he  leaves  them  he  maketh  the  better  cheer) 

And  telling  him  that  he  is  very  well  absolved. 

But,  alas  !  they  are  but  sadly  confessed  who  are  thus  faulty. 

And  will  certainly  be  deceived  in  such  an  absolution, 

And  he  that  maketh  him  believe  it  sinneth  mortally. 

For  I  dare  say,  and  it  is  very  true. 

That  all  the  popes  which  have  been  from  Sylvester  to  this  present, 


392  APPENDIX. 

And  all  Cardinals,  Bishops,  Abbots,  and  the  like, 

Have  no  power  to  absolve  or  pardon. 

Any  creature  so  much  as  one  mortal  sin. 

It  is  God  alone  who  pardons,  and  no  other. 

But  this  ought  they  to  do  who  are  pastors, 

They  ought  to  preach  to  the  people,  and  pray  with  them, 

And  feed  them  often  with  divine  doctrine ; 

And  chastise  the  sinners  with  discipline, 

Namely,  by  declaring  that  they  ought  to  repent. 

First  that  they  confess  their  sins  freely  and  folly, 

And  that  repent  in  this  present  life. 

That  they  fast  and  give  alms,  and  pray  wath  a  fervent  heart, 

For  by  these  things  the  soul  finds  salvation : 

Wherefjre  we  Christians  which  have  sinned 

And  forsaken  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ, 

Having  neither  fear,  faith,  nor  love, 

We  must  confess  our  sins  without  any  delay, 

We  must  amend  with  weeping  and  repentance. 

The  offences  \Thich  we  have  committed,  and  for  those  three  mortal 

sins, 
To  wit,  for  the  lust  of  the  eye,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  pride  of 

life,  through  which  we  have  done  evil ; 
We  must  keep  this  way. 
If  we  will  love  and  follow  Jesus  Christ, 
We  must  have  spiritual  poverty  of  heart, 
And  love  chastity,  and  serve  God  humbly, 
For  so  we  may  follow  the  way  of  Jesus  Christ, 
And  thus  we  may  overcome  our  enemies, 


e/ 


DATE  DUE 

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Hug  3^M<i2^ 

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I99S  ^ 

\.!J.\J  9  "■ 

2004 

CAVLORD 

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BW1680.W16 

The  Waldenses :  sketches  of  the 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00069  2535 


